Angels Fall First
by Mistress Megatron
Summary: After Optimus discovers that the Allspark managed to rebirth inside a human female, he does everything in his power to keep her from falling into the hands of the Decepticons, even if it means giving up his own spark to make sure she is safe. Movieverse
1. Area 51

Well I promised Mrs. Optimus Prime that I would write this for her, and I think it was like...a year ago I made the promise. This story takes place after the 2007 movie, if you couldn't figure it out from the summary, and the rating will be bumped up to M later.

_Disclaimer_: Transformers and all related characters belong to Hasbro and not to me. All OC's belong to Mrs. Optimus Prime, with the exception of Sadie, Ryan, Chester, and Julia...who belong to me.

* * *

**Chapter 1: Area 51**

He turned it over in his hands again, the only fragment that was left. It was useless now, but the only reason he kept it was because it reminded him of his lost brother, the brother who _used_ to be kind and who _used_ to believe that freedom was the right of all sentient beings. But his brother had lost all sight of that when power became his weakness and ultimately led to his demise.

"Megatron…"

Optimus missed him of course, after all it had been his brother who had perished, no matter how dark and black and cold his spark was. But it was almost a relief to have him gone, the universe and humankind was safe for now. The autobot leader knew that there was still Decepticons out there, like Starscream and Barricade, and he knew it was only a matter of time before they showed their faces again.

He looked down at the Allspark fragment, all which remained of the Cube now. The thing that had given the transformer race their life had also brought an end to a life and to the long raged civil war. Optimus stroked a finger over its smooth surface. He knew he had better things to do rather than sit in his quarters and dwell on the past. He should just throw it away…

The Autobot leader was startled when the fragment suddenly started glowing, bathing the darkened room in a blue hue. Optimus was too stunned to let it go or take his optics off it. But the glow intensified harshly and he had to shield his optics from the powerful light. When the glowing finally stopped, he looked back down at his hand.

The fragment was gone.

"_This can't be good,"_ was all that Optimus could think.

* * *

College…it had been a colossal mess, but it had also been very worth her time. And it was amazing how quickly four years had gone by. College life had been interesting to say the least…from parties to school work to jobs and to relationships that didn't work…Elizabetta had enjoyed her time there. She was twenty-one, young and full of energy. She had majored in music education at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. Her hair was brunette, and her eyes dark brown. She was thin and short, only about five-foot-two, but she was the sweetest girl a person could ever meet.

At her college, she had a group of friends she hung out with. They got along well, and they had made many memories during their four years together at the college. Elizabetta, as much as she had loved college, was ready to be out on her own more than anything. She wanted to find that special guy, she wanted to start making more money than the measly minimum wage, and most importantly, she wanted to have fun while doing so.

It was the eve of her college graduation and her and her friends had decided to do something interesting that day since they didn't have any classes. For a couple weeks they had been planning to drive up to Area 51 since none of them had ever been there, and they were curious as to what could be there.

Area 51 had many myths surrounding it. It was supposedly the crash site of an alien spaceship. The United States Government declared the area a military aircraft base where they designed and tested out new types of aircraft. The only reason why it was such a big mystery was because nobody except the people that worked there knew what was there. And the efforts that had been taken to keep American citizens out was so great, there was reason to have people speculating as to what was there. Elizabetta wanted to satisfy her curiosity, and so didn't her other friends. They had watched shows about Area 51 on the Discovery Channel and History Channel and heard that the site was rumored to be abandoned. And oh how the posse wished it was, that way they might be the first ordinary citizens to actually sneak inside and see what was being hidden from the public.

At 6:00am, Elizabetta and her friends Sadie, Julia, and Ryan climbed into an SUV and her other friend Chester got behind the wheel since it was his SUV and he had made it quite clear that he didn't want anyone else driving it. Sadie, Julia, and Elizabetta sat in the back while Ryan sat in the front with Chester. It was over a two hour drive, and they had a number of things planned to do. They were going to visit a museum, and there was no telling how long that would take. And they hoped to just chill out at some of the local towns until dark, that's when they would attempt to sneak inside Area 51.

* * *

The sun was high in the sky by the time the quintet pulled into the parking lot of the museum they had scheduled to visit. It wasn't as big as they thought it would be, just a nonchalant building located about a mile or so out of town. Stiff and getting sore the five people inside the car climbed out and stretched, squinting at the bright sun and then fanning their faces as a strong wave of heat hit them. But they laughed and chatted as they headed to the front door of the museum. Ryan led the way to the front door, escorting Sadie and Julia on either arm and reassuring Elizabetta that she could give him a shoulder massage later. Elizabetta merely shook her head saying, "Keep dreaming there buster."

Chester stayed behind momentarily to lock up his vehicle before he joined his group at the front door. Ryan was the one who opened it and the three girls stepped inside gasping at what they saw. Paintings of aliens, statues of aliens, supposed alien artifacts and pieces from alien spaceships. The ceiling was black and tiny lights that represented stars illuminated the ceiling as well as most of the museum. However, the creepiest thing about the entire museum lay behind the counter…and that was the person standing there.

It was a man, dressed in a military uniform. He had black hair that was neatly trimmed and a well-shaved face. He was slightly tan and rather muscular. Black beady eyes starred at the small group of college students, and just as the silent tension was about to burst between the group and the man, the man suddenly smiled and stated in a charming voice, "Welcome to my museum. My name is Ross; I can show you around if you like."

Sadie was the spokesperson for the group, "N-No that's fine. If we have any questions we'll ask."

Ross nodded politely and then Chester spoke, "I have a question though. What's up with the military suit?"

The man smirked, "I'm glad you asked. I used to work over at Area 51."

"Explains his oddity," murmured Julia to no one in particular.

Ross didn't hear her as he continued, "These things in the glass cases around you are what I've smuggled out of the place before I retired."

"And they don't know you've done this?" questioned Ryan.

"No, nobody ever comes here and I only took things they didn't care about," Ross explained, "that way they wouldn't come looking."

He noticed Elizabetta looking in on one of the items he had smuggled out, she couldn't tell what it was, it just looked like a piece of mashed up metal to her, she really wasn't sure of it's whole importance. The man came over to her and said, "Ah, that's a piece of the spaceship."

"Spaceship?" questioned Elizabetta looking up at him, "You mean an alien spaceship actually crash landed there?"

Ross nodded smiling, "Yes. There are more items downstairs if you wish to view them. There's a gift shop down there as well."

"Ooo," exclaimed Sadie, "I want to by myself a little glow in the dark alien keychain. Come on guys, let's go check it out."

And the crew went downstairs, but Elizabetta stayed upstairs as she continued to browse over the exhibits. Ross watched her as she did so and then asked her, "Would you like to go to Area 51?"

Elizabetta looked up at him and answered carefully, "My friends and I were going to drive past their tonight, just to see if we could see anything."

"Well you won't if you just drive by. Let me go with you, as an escort and guide. Perhaps I could get you in."

Elizabetta just wasn't a hundred percent sure if she could trust this guy. Sure he had all this fabulous stuff in his museum, but how was she supposed to know if it was authentic? And how was she supposed to know he wasn't lying? There was no way to trust him; she needed to talk this over with her friends, but most of all she wanted proof. Proof that he had actually worked at Area 51 before, proof that he wasn't making all this up, and proof that he was trustworthy.

"How can I trust you?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"Ah, that's a fair question," he replied as he sat on one of the countertops, "you see there's something in there that I really want."

"In at Area 51?"

"Precisely."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure, all I know is that it's located just inside the boundaries of Area 51 and nobody has noticed it yet. I want to get it before somebody does see it, and tonight may be my only opportunity to do so."

"Why?"

"I needed transportation. Going with you kids will provide me with the transportation I need."

"And what if we get caught? They don't shoot us on the spot do they?"

"It depends. If you don't make it inside you will be arrested and placed inside a federal prison. If you do make it inside and they catch you, it's another story."

"They shoot you don't they?"

"Yes, and they will not hesitate to."

Elizabetta pursed her lips to the side and Ross continued, "If you get caught with me though they might keep you alive."

"How come?"

"They know me. They might wonder why I came back and with you…and then they'd shoot."

"So basically, if we were to get inside, don't get caught?"

"Exactly," he said and looked her over briefly, "Am I permitted to come with you or not?"

Elizabetta hesitated, "Let me talk it over with my friends first."

"Talk what over with us?" asked Chester as the group returned from the downstairs, "This place is amazing."

Ross smiled, "I was wondering if I could accompany you tonight when you go to visit Area 51. I could act as your guide and there is something I wish to retrieve."

"The only problem is if we get caught we get shot," Elizabetta pointed out.

"God created us with two legs so that we can run very quickly back to Chester's car and make a hasty retreat," Ryan explained.

Elizabetta frowned. She wasn't sure if she liked the idea of all this suddenly. But then again the thrill of actually testing the authority of the personnel at Area 51 was gnawing at her. Just so long as she didn't go inside she would be fine and wouldn't have to worry about being shot. The last thing she wanted to do was die the eve of her graduation. At the dawn of her life…

"I say he should come with us," Sadie remarked confidently, "he could prove to be a very valuable asset."

Chester nodded agreeing, "Most definitely. I second Sadie's proposal."

Julia thought about it for a moment before crossing her arms, "I guess it wouldn't hurt anything. If worse comes to worse I'll just stay in the SUV."

"If Julia's in, then I am most definitely in," stated Ryan, placing an arm around the small of her back.

Julia shot him an annoyed look before leaning against him. Elizabetta sighed heavily, "I guess I've got no choice but to go along with you guys."

Ross smiled, "Don't worry, you're all in good hands now, I promise."

Elizabetta wasn't sure why, but she didn't trust Ross. He was friendly and everything, but there was just something about him that she didn't like and she had a feeling that she would find out tonight what it was. And she hoped it wouldn't come in the form of her looking down the barrel of a gun. She sighed heavily and looked back up just as Ross said, "You folks are welcome to stay here until nightfall. That's when we'll make our move."

Julia nodded, "Alright. Though we may sneak out for lunch and dinner and stuff."

"And see what they got for stores," Sadie added quickly, she obviously loved to shop.

"Did you find your keychain?" asked Ross amused as he came up beside Elizabetta.

Sadie nodded happily, "You bet I did. Can I pay for it?"

"Sure thing," Ross replied as he stepped behind the counter and sold the little alien keychain to the overly excited girl.

She thanked him and Chester stated they were going to head out for lunch. He invited Ross to come along, but Ross declined saying he was going to make preparations for tonight. Thus, the group of college kids left and headed back into town, deciding they would look around before meeting back at the museum with Ross.

* * *

It seemed that everyone but Elizabetta was hyped up with excitement and eagerness as they pulled back into the parking lot of the museum. She seemed to be the only one who was worried about the whole thing, but she couldn't hide the small amount of excitement she felt. She craved the adventure, and now she was getting it. And part of her was curious to see what was actually inside. Really the only thing she was worried about was getting caught inside. She didn't want to die…but then again she had to admit that her death would at least be interesting.

But if she managed to get a peek inside, if she managed to see what they were hiding, oh what a story she would have to tell! Sure, there would be people who wouldn't believe her, but she could just label them as jealous since they don't have any interesting story to tell. And she did have a camera in her pocket…if she could snap a few quick photos…then it would definitely be worth her time and worry.

Then there was Ross.

He was locking up the museum just as Chester parked the car. To make room for him, Ryan got out of the front seat and let him sit there, only so he could give directions to Chester easier. Instead Ryan climbed in the back and had Julia sit on his lap. The windows were tinted quite dark so that they didn't have to worry about anyone looking in on them. Especially since the sun was just beginning to set over the horizon.

Ross asked Chester if he would open the trunk, and Chester complied. Elizabetta watched out of the corner of her eye as he placed a gun inside as well as sack. It was quite clear to her then that he really was going to go after something…and that if anyone stood in his way he would exterminate him. She suppressed the urge to shiver as she heard him bang the trunk shut and then he got into the front seat. If he went inside…Elizabetta knew she certainly wasn't going in with him.

She swallowed hard as Chester started up the SUV and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for the infamous Area 51.

* * *

Elizabetta bit her lip when she heard Ross tell Chester to turn off his headlights as he drove down a narrow stretch of road. She looked out a window and could barely make out a sign that said "No trespassing beyond this point…violators will be jailed."

She quickly looked away from the window…she had to choose a window seat. What if one of the guards was feeling restless and decided to shoot at them and the bullet came in right through her window? She sighed heavily, it had been her own choice to get herself into this mess, and none of her other friends seemed to be worried. Elizabetta just guessed they had put their entire trust in Ross…something she still wasn't ready to do.

After driving for about ten minutes, Ross instructed Chester to pull off to the side of the road, which he did, and turned off the vehicle. Ross then turned and looked at everybody, "Alright, if you're caught in this area, they'll jail you for a _very_ long time. However, if you want to you can go inside with me, but if you get caught, they'll _kill_ you. Does everyone understand that?"

Sadie's hands began to tremble, "W-Well then…I think I'll just watch you guys."

"Yeah same here," Julia remarked.

Ryan crossed his arms, "One of you three women has to go outside."

Both Sadie and Julia pointed at Elizabetta who looked back at them annoyed, "I see what kind of friends you guys are."

"Oh come on," Chester remarked, "we're all going to get out and at least _one_ of us besides Ross is going to go inside."

"Does anyone volunteer?" Ross asked, but nobody did.

"Let's choose a number between one and fifteen. Whoever guesses closest to the number goes inside," proposed Julia.

"In that case, I will choose the number," declared Ross and he thought for a moment, "Alright, I got it."

"I'll go first," Sadie stated, "Um…twelve."

"Three," said Julia.

"Fifteen," guessed Ryan.

"Nine," was Chester's guess.

"Um…I'll go with five," Elizabetta said.

Ross grinned, "Five was my number."

Elizabetta thought she was going to do a number in her pants when she heard Ross say that, "But…I don't want to go inside."

"Then you shouldn't have guessed his number," Ryan exclaimed and then added, "besides, we'll all be right here supporting you. And Ross has a gun, he'll protect you."

Elizabetta knew her friends weren't going to let her out of this, and she knew she had no choice but to go when Ross came over and opened her door. He said, "Just stay close to me. You'll be just fine. I've done this countless times and nothing has ever happened. We're not going to go very far inside."

Slowly she climbed out of the vehicle and she shot a threatening look to Ross before pointing a finger in his face and saying, "If I get shot, I will kill you."

He grinned, "If you get shot you'll be dead."

"We'll see," she said as she closed the door as quietly as she could behind her.

Ross got his bag and his gun out from the trunk before he closed it and then he said to the group that was still inside the van, "If we're not back in half an hour you need to leave."

Chester nodded, "Alright."

Ross took Elizabetta by the hand and started leading her through the dark to what she presumed was a way into the military base. She walked as quietly as she could, along with the man, and it wasn't very long until they came upon a slight hill. Ross whispered to her, "Once we get over this hill, we'll be inside. And just inside is that thing that I want."

"Where are the guards though?"

"I don't know, so just stay low and stay quiet."

And the two of them proceeded to climb up the hill quietly and swiftly, until they got to the top and peaked over and down into Area 51. Elizabetta felt disappointment run through her. There were just a few large buildings, some vehicles and semi trucks. She saw an airfield and a really large hangar not too far away from it. She had wanted to see a spaceship…but she guessed that wasn't going to happen.

"Can you fire a gun?" whispered Ross suddenly.

"No," she replied still looking around.

"Alright, you see that disc down there?" Ross asked pointing.

"You mean…that one with the funky writing on it?"

"Yes that's it. That's what I'm after," he explained, "I need you to go down there and get it for me."

"What?!" she whispered harshly, "Why me?"

"Since you can't fire a gun, I'll shoot anyone who comes near you."

Elizabetta didn't have to look in a mirror to know her face had paled. It was all she could do to swallow as she looked to Ross like he was mad, "I'm not going in there."

"You just have to go down the hill a little ways. You're smaller than me and it will be harder for them to spot you."

"Any idea how heavy that thing is though?" questioned Elizabetta quietly, "What happens if I can't get it back up the part of the hill I go down?"

"I don't think it's that heavy, now go," he ordered, pushing on her shoulder.

Frowning, Elizabetta prepared for a bullet to hit her as she slowly made her way down the hill. The disc that Ross wanted was no more than halfway down the hill…and the hill was totally engulfed in darkness. They couldn't have picked a better night to come…the moon was hidden behind the clouds yet it provided enough light for Elizabetta to see where the disc was.

It felt so odd knowing that she was actually inside the well renowned Area 51. That she was actually inside a place that was so heavily guarded and so shrouded by mystery…yet if it was so heavily guarded, then why was she inside? She hoped the disc really wasn't a bomb…she hoped that some sort of alarm didn't go off when she touched it…she hoped that some gun wouldn't pop out of nowhere and shoot her if she so much as breathed on it. But if something did happen to her, she could at least blame Ross since it certainly hadn't been her choice to go inside in the first place.

She reached the disc and carefully looked it over. It looked just like the Phaistos Disc except the writing on it was totally different. Instead of animal, people, and other various items being the symbols on it, it looked like some sort of crazed out computer font. Like the Wingding and Symbol fonts that were on her computer back in her dorm. Whatever it was, she couldn't make it out. The disc wasn't very big either; it was just smaller than a hubcap. And after examining it carefully for any sort of booby trap or alarm, she slowly reached out and grasped it.

Elizabetta felt her breath catch in her throat when the symbols on the disc suddenly began to glow in a blue hue. If someone saw the disc, she was as good as dead. She quickly grasped it with the other hand and went to pick it up, but suddenly the glowing intensified and she watched in stunned horror as the symbols suddenly began sliding up her arms and down her back. She had absolutely no idea what was going on when without warning a giant blue beam of light shot up into the air and an annoying ringing noise suddenly sounded. She attempted to look back at Ross but her head was frozen…and as she tried to move the rest of her body she realize that she couldn't…and she was helpless as the blue beam came back down and hit her. Her body was engulfed in the light for a few moments before it faded away and everything was silent. Elizabetta was shaken, but she was alright, and she knew she had to get out of there and fast.

But when she looked down the disc was gone.

Alarms blared behind her suddenly and Elizabetta quickly got up and stumbled her way back up the hill and back to Ross who was looking at her wide-eyed, "What happened?"

"I…don't know. We just need to get out of here right _now_," she stated urgently.

Ross glanced down at his watch, "We lost our ride, it's been about thirty-five minutes."

"Then we start running really fast," she suggested fingering the cellphone that was in her pocket.

"It was up this way," came a foreign male voice suddenly from just down the hill a little ways.

Elizabetta went to run, but Ross held her back and took out his gun. He got ready to fire it as Elizabetta slinked away from him and when she was quite a distance away, she turned and was nearly blinded by a white light. She thought for sure she was caught when she heard a male voice say, "Identify yourself."

"Elizabetta Sanders sir," she replied in a voice just above a whisper, "whatever you do please don't shoot me."

"Were you the one who sent out the beacon?" he asked.

"Beacon? You mean that giant blue beam and that ringing noise?"

There was a sinister laugh and the light disappeared. Elizabetta nearly peed her pants when she realized she had been talking to none other than a giant robot. She took a wary step back as she asked, "Who are you? Better yet _what_ are you?"

"I am Starscream, leader of the Decepticons and a transformer from the planet Cybertron." he said sadistically, "And before you ask, my purpose here is retrieving you."

"W-Why?" she questioned slowly stepping backwards away from Starscream.

"Your energy readings are off the charts," he explained, "just like the Allspark's."

She didn't know what the Allspark was but nonetheless his words caused her eyes to widen in shock and surprise. As she backed away from him though, her foot suddenly dipped and she almost fell backwards but managed to retain her balance. Glancing behind her she saw she had backed herself up right to the edge of a cliff…she looked back at the robot only to see him reaching a hand towards her. She cringed, praying that he would not hurt her. Suddenly a voice called out from behind the robot, "Starscream! Leave the human alone!"

Elizabetta looked out only to see four more giant robots advancing upon her and Starscream. The leader of the Decepticons seemed to forget her as he momentarily turned and hissed, "Optimus Prime, I should've known you would show up…you always seem to know how to crash a Decepticon's party."

Optimus ignored his comment as he went on to say, "Just get out of here Starscream, you're outnumbered four to one."

"Alright, but this human is coming with me."

"That's what you think," said a black transformer as he suddenly tackled Starscream.

When they landed on the ground, they caused it to shake so bad that Elizabetta fell off the edge of the cliff. Optimus heard her scream and quickly went to her aid. He reached the cliff just as he heard guns fire and he looked over, just in time to witness the bullets deflect off Elizabetta's skin. Stunned, he quickly reached down and grabbed her with a hand before she hit the ground and issued a retreat knowing that whoever had fired upon Elizabetta would be coming for them soon.

Seeing he was defeated, Starscream made a hasty retreat himself as the Autobots scattered and chose to meet up later. Optimus looked at the shaking and trembling female in his hand and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes…" she replied, "I'm only trying to figure out why I'm not dead."

"As am I, I saw those bullets hit you," he mused, but quickly changed topics, "I am Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. I, as well as the rest of the Autobots, do not wish to harm you. We believe that freedom is the right of all sentient beings and we will do what we can to protect you from harm."

"W-Wow," she stated, "thanks then…I guess."

"Elizabetta!" called a male voice suddenly, "Elizabetta where are you?!"

"Ross," she breathed.

"You know this male?" Optimus asked looking in the direction the shouting was coming from.

"Yes," she answered as Optimus set her on the ground.

And suddenly Ross was upon her and questioned, "Elizabetta, there you are! Where have you been?" He looked up and saw Optimus standing there and took a wary step back, "And what the devil is _that_?"

"Optimus Prime," Elizabetta answered, "other than that I'm not sure."

Optimus ignored the humans comments and suddenly spoke, "Elizabetta is your name?"

"Yeah," she answered.

"According to my scans your emitting energy readings that are as high as the Allspark's…"

"What is the Allspark?" she asked.

"It's what gave life to us transformers. Not long ago the only remaining shard of the Allspark went missing."

"What are you insinuating?"

"I'll explain later at our base where it's safer. However, until we figure out what is going on with you Elizabetta, you must stay with us."

"But my college graduation is tomorrow…I _have _to be there!" she protested in a whine.

"I'm afraid you're going to have to miss it," he explained.

She crossed her arms, "You know, you said freedom was the right of sentient beings. Well, since you consider me as free, I wish not to be involved with you and your kind at all. I only wish for a ride back to Las Vegas for my college graduation tomorrow."

Optimus sighed heavily seeing she did have a point, "Elizabetta you're going to need protection from the Decepticons. I have a feeling that they will stop at nothing to get you."

"I said I want don't want to be involved with your kind! Just find me a ride to Las Vegas!"

Optimus saw that arguing with a human female was getting him absolutely nowhere. "Alright," he said and he transformed into a Peterbilt semi, stunning both Ross and Elizabetta.

"I see why you're called transformers now," Elizabetta remarked as she climbed inside him, Ross following after her.

When they had their seatbelts fastened, Optimus closed his door and started off towards Las Vegas, using satellite technology on the internet to guide him. As he went along, he noticed the humans inside his cab were rather quiet and when he scanned their vitals he realized that they were both sleeping. Using the opportunity, the Autobot leader sent out a message through his comlink.

"To all Autobots, rendezvous in the human city called Las Vegas. I am taking Elizabetta there now, she does not wish for our help," he said and then added, "but I have a feeling that very soon...she will be."

* * *

And so that is the end of chapter number one...I hope you guys enjoyed it and leave a nice review on the way out. And I guess I'll leave a teaser for the next chapter just as a special treat.

Teaser: College graduation...and Decepticons in the audience.


	2. Happy Graduation

Sorry for the delay on updating this...I'll bring up the old "school" excuse again. But I finally had time this weekend, so here's chapter 2. By the way, I brought one of the characters (Decepticon) who had been killed in the movie back to life (just 'cause I can). So be on the look out for him, I won't say who it is though.

* * *

**Chapter 2: Happy Graduation**

Elizabetta was woken by the cabin of the semi truck she was in slightly shaking back and forth because of the bumps on a poorly paved road. She yawned silently, stretching as she did so, and glanced to the backseat where she saw Ross was still asleep. Elizabetta then looked down to her lap where her hands were neatly folded. Just what had happened that night? Why had things gotten so out of control? Why was she stupid enough to listen to Ross and go after the disc? None of this was good, and she wasn't sure just how there could be a plus side to all of these events. All she knew was she had to get away from these giant robots, these robots that had the answers it seemed, but she couldn't trust them. Glancing up from her lap, she looked out the window and asked in a quiet voice, "Where are we?"

"About five minutes or so from Las Vegas," Optimus answered, "What's the name of your college?"

"The University of Nevada," Elizabetta replied, "You can just drop me off at the entrance to the campus. I'll walk to my dorm."

Optimus was silent for a few long moments before saying, "Going anywhere alone isn't a very wise decision for you right now."

"I have friends on campus."

"Your friends are not going to protect you from the Decepticons."

"The who?"

The Autobot leader sighed heavily, "I'll explain some other time."

Elizabetta frowned, "Look Mr. Optimus Prime sir, I do enjoy an adventure, but not the kind of adventure that involves giant robots chasing me with the intent to inflict harm, pain, or death. So, the less I associate myself with you machines, the better."

"I have a feeling that you'll be changing your mind very soon."

"And just what are you planning?"

"Nothing, but the Decepticons might be up to something."

"Well, they'll have to find me first before they can do anything."

"Oh trust me Elizabetta, they will."

Elizabetta pressed herself into the seat and stared out of the window. She didn't want Optimus to know that he had scared the living daylights out of her with his "cautionary" words—words that sounded more like a threat to her. But on top of all the fear, confusion was gnawing at her. She wanted to know why these robots were after her; she wanted to know what their story was and where exactly they had come from, but most of all she wanted to know what that disc was and what it had done to her. Elizabetta had quite clearly felt those bullets bounce off her skin, though it didn't really hurt, it was something she didn't want to go through again. And just who had fired at her? She wanted to say it had been one of the guards stationed at Area 51, but she had a feeling that it hadn't been.

Buildings and casino lights flashed by as Optimus drove through Las Vegas, heading in the direction of the University of Nevada. Optimus, Elizabetta, and Ross travelled in silence, the only sounds coming from Optimus' engine and Ross' slight snoring. The twenty-one year old couldn't help but feel awkward at the sight of the steering wheel turning by itself, without the assistance of a driver. She watched it for a few minutes until her college came in sight. Optimus stopped just outside the main entrance and opened the door for Elizabetta to get out. As she undid her seatbelt and began to climb down out of his cab, he asked, "Are you sure you don't want to stay with us?"

She gave him a sweet smile, "Yes I'm sure, but thanks anyways." And she shut the door to his cab and walked onto the campus towards her dorm.

Optimus watched her go for a few moments before he pulled away from the college. Opening his comlink to all channels he spoke into it, "Ironhide, Bumblebee, Ratchet, rendezvous at the University of Nevada. Set up a perimeter around the campus and monitor for any signs of Decepticon activity in the area. If you detect the Decepticons, contact me at once."

There was a resounding, "Yes sir." Then the transmission was ended.

Optimus moved to his own position a couple blocks from the campus and parked. There was a lot that needed to be done to convince Elizabetta to come with them, but for now, the Autobot leader needed to recharge.

* * *

As soon as Optimus was out of sight, Elizabetta took off running back to her dorm. She had not wanted Optimus to know she was absolutely frightened about being alone at the moment. Elizabetta was trembling when she got to her dorm; it was all she could do to unlock the door, but she succeeded in doing so and was relieved when she got inside. Taking a couple deep breaths, the woman walked down the hall to her dorm room and slipped inside. Her room mate had already gone to bed, but Elizabetta didn't care as she slipped her shoes off and collapsed onto her bed, exhausted and dreams of graduation in her head.

"They won't find me here," she breathed as sleep overcame her, "I'm safe…"

* * *

The next morning Elizabetta woke up to the sound of her room mate's alarm clock going off. She groaned as she rolled over in her bed. Graduation was at noon and she had a lot of stuff to do to get ready. Her parents were coming at around ten to help her pack up her stuff and get it into the car. Glancing over at her own clock she saw it was 8:45 right now. Sighing heavily, Elizabetta picked herself up from her bed and grabbed a t-shirt, shorts, and her undergarments and then a small bag with her toiletries inside and went down to the bathroom where she showered and dressed, taking care of her hygiene.

As she walked back to her room in her tired stupor, she felt like last night had never happened. She laughed lightly to herself as she walked back into her dorm room and began packing up her clothes. _"There are no giant robots! What was I drinking last night? It must have been some pretty strong stuff to make me have a dream like that,"_ she thought, then doubted her thinking because she wasn't a drinker. Somehow something wasn't right; somehow something was very, very wrong.

Elizabetta managed to finish packing up all her things by ten o'clock, when her parents arrived. It took them about forty-five minutes to pack her bags and other items into her car while Elizabetta grabbed something to eat and then helped them out. The girl left out a dress that she planned to wear for graduation underneath her robe, as well as a nice pair of shoes. At eleven, her parents left her so she could get ready, something Elizabetta was eager to do. She just wanted to get home and leave Las Vegas, as well as Nevada behind. She knew she would feel safer once out and at home.

The girl began changing into her dress; it was nothing but a simple black and white, light sundress that would go just fine under her graduation robe. There was a knock at her door just as she finished tugging it on and sighing Elizabetta asked, "Who is it?"

"Elizabetta?! Is that you?!"

It was Sadie. Elizabetta shook her head and hollered back, "Yes it is! You can come in if you want."

The door opened promptly and Sadie came in, quickly shutting the door behind her. She went to run up and crush Elizabetta in a hug when she gasped suddenly and pressed her back against the door. "What's that on your arms?" she asked in a stunned voice.

"What do you mean what's on my arms?" Elizabetta asked as she looked down at her arms and gasped herself. On the outside of each of her upper arms were some of the symbols that had been on the disc from the previous night. She had been so tired she didn't even notice them when she had taken her shower, and as the girl turned to look at herself in the mirror, Sadie pointed something else out.

"They're on you're back too."

Elizabetta quickly whipped around and looked at her back the best that she could in the mirror. Indeed more of the symbols from the disc went down her spine. Sadie's face has paled as she stammered, "J-Just w-what happened last night?"

"It's really hard to explain, but you got to help me cover these things up."

"Did you get caught inside of Area 51 and the guards branded you?"

"No."

"We all thought you and Ross were dead."

"We almost didn't make it out. Do you think make up will work to cover these markings?"

"No, you're just going to have to keep your graduation robe on all day."

"But we're in Las Vegas and graduation is outdoors, I'll die of heatstroke."

"I'll keep my robe on with you."

Even though as much as she wished and pretended that the previous night had not happened, it had, and the memories of it all came cascading down upon her as reality slammed back into her with a violent clash of flesh and life. Elizabetta sighed heavily. She knew she couldn't go back in time and erase last night like she wished she could right now. She was stuck with these weird symbols on her that had once been on that blasted disc. And on top of all that she had giant robots chasing her, giant robots she still wasn't sure were entirely trustworthy yet. Even though that Optimus Prime guy had saved her life and brought her back to her college even though he didn't want to. He claimed to be looking out for her safety, but could she really believe him after all that had gone on the previous night?

She blamed Ross, oh the next time she crossed paths with him she was going to pound him into Kingdom Come. If they had never met him, if _she_ had never met him then she wouldn't have these crazy markings on her arms and spine and she wouldn't have Optimus Prime and other robotic giants running after her. She would still be living a normal life with her friends, she'd be going home to find a job at one of the local schools…she would be starting her life, her journey into womanhood, but how was her life going to go now with these stupid giant robots and stupid symbols?

"I'm going to have to wear long sleeves the rest of my life."

"No you aren't. You could just say it's some Japanese tattoo or something."

"These aren't Japanese symbols; they look like some whacked out computer font."

Sadie shrugged, "You'll be alright, maybe they'll go away after a little while, now come on, we need to get going. Graduation isn't going to wait for us."

Elizabetta pursed her lips to the side and slipped on her graduation robe. She quickly brushed out her straightened hair and then grabbed her graduation cap with the tassel already attached and left her dorm with Sadie, heading towards the front lawn of the campus where the graduation ceremony was scheduled to be held.

The graduation ceremony began promptly at noon, and it started off by the graduates walking down the center isle, two at a time, to their proper seats. Elizabetta sat towards the beginning of the first row since her last name started with an A. She sat on the right hand side, and from where she sat she could look out into the street, and she nearly peed her pants when she looked out and saw Optimus Prime in his semi form parked along the side of the road. She glanced at the road towards the other side of the podium and saw a police car parked. She shook her head, _"What? Do the police think we're going to go hog wild after graduation?"_

Elizabetta growled in annoyance as she cast her glance back to Optimus Prime. It was quite apparent that he had not given up on getting her to come with him. But then, how great was the threat against her if he was always there all of a sudden? Just what were these Decepticons capable of? Well, if they were giant robots from God knows where, there was no telling what the limit to their powers was. At least she had one robot on her side.

Helicopter rotors sounded in the distance but Elizabetta tuned them out as the ceremony continued. It seemed like it went on forever as different people gave their speeches, wishing the graduates good luck with their lives, giving them advice, nods of approval and acceptance…it was more than a relief when the graduates finally started receiving their diplomas. Elizabetta was fifth in her class alphabetically. Four other people were ahead of her as she waited, eager to get her diploma and start her life. She watched as the people ahead of her slowly crossed the stage and received their diplomas, shaking hands with college administrators as they left the stage.

"Elizabetta Allaire."

Elizabetta promptly rose from her seat and walked to the stage, aware of the eyes on her, also aware that Optimus was probably somehow watching her and listening to her. Yet, she couldn't help but feel accusing eyes upon her back, looking for something, reading her for something; was it _them_?

She walked halfway across the stage and her hand found her diploma. She shook hands with the person handing them out and as she walked off the stage, there was a sudden gust of wind and her graduation cap went flying off and over towards the police car. Growling lightly and without a second thought, she went off to retrieve her graduation cap, which was right next to the back tire of the police car. As she got closer to the car, she couldn't help but peek inside and look at the officer. She felt her blood stop flowing as fear surged through her instead.

His hair was shoulder length and as black as a night without a moon. He was in a police uniform, but his cap had a weird symbol on it. He was staring straight at her, skin white, eyes steady and piercing. He was muscular, fit, with thick, solid black eyebrows. He looked very relaxed, but his gaze would not leave hers, and Elizabetta swore she saw a flash of red in his eyes. It was all she could do to peal her eyes away from his, but finally she managed to do so and went over to the rear wheel and kneeled to retrieve her cap. As she moved to stand, she caught a glimpse of the inscription that was on the car right below window…_to punish and enslave_.

She wasn't stupid. She knew that that was not any police agency's motto. And she knew very quickly that Optimus had been right.

"They found me," she breathed, standing slowly.

The officer inside chuckled lowly, his voice deep and menacing, "Clever human. Get in the car and I promise I won't hurt you…yet."

Elizabetta swallowed hard, "Sorry, but my parents told me not to talk to strangers." And she quickly turned on her heel and went to head back to her seat, but she turned just in time to witness a low flying helicopter come over the college and hover over the stage.

It transformed suddenly, landing on its feet, demolishing the stage and ending the lives of those who were standing or sitting upon it. There were gasps, there were screams, and Elizabetta felt dumbfounded when she heard gears click and whir behind her. She turned only to see the police car that had once been there was now a robot, 30 or so feet tall. She was trapped and at the mercy of not one, but two giant robots this time.

Elizabetta's heart was pounding, she wanted desperately to run, but she couldn't run in her graduation robe, and she didn't have time to take it off. She couldn't see past the helicopter-robot that was in front of her, but that didn't stop her from screaming, "OPTIMUS!"

The Autobot leader's giant metal form suddenly slammed into the former helicopter, and they both went crashing into the ground, metal clashing together so harshly that it was all Elizabetta could do to keep herself from covering her ears. But the Autobot leader had provided enough of a distraction for her to take off running, causing her to lose her cap once again, but she didn't care. She tore off towards the campus, running as fast as she could while trying not to trip over her robe. The police-bot followed her though, walking, able to keep pace with her. If she could only get inside one of the buildings and hide…

Her residence hall was the first place she arrived at, and she grabbed the door handle and yanked…but the door was locked…and she didn't have the key to get in. "No!" she exclaimed irate. She heard something behind her and quickly turned only to suddenly be pinned back against the door roughly, a hand squeezing her neck and choking her.

"You're coming with me," came a lowly and ominous voice.

The officer that had once been inside the police car now had her pinned to the door of her own residence hall. The robot had transformed again, his vehicle form was right behind the officer. Elizabetta narrowed her eyes at him, feeling her oxygen supply running low and her breathing become more difficult. She raised a leg harshly and planted her knee in his crotch. He seemed surprised by the wave of pain that suddenly echoed and reverberated through his groin, it overcame him and he doubled over, releasing Elizabetta, and she took immediate advantage of the situation. She shed her graduation robe and removed her shoes, and took off running yet again. She didn't care what happened to the items she left behind, just so long as she got away from that…that _thing_.

But she hadn't gotten that far when suddenly a giant metal hand clutched around her and lifted her from the ground. She squirmed and screamed, trying to make it let go of her, and she could tell she had annoyed it when it said, "Calm down runt, I work with Optimus Prime, I don't plan on hurting you."

Elizabetta looked up at the black robot, into his soft yet piercing blue optics. She ceased her struggling and asked in a rush of air, "Who are you?"

"Ironhide, Autobot weapon specialist."

"Well then," Elizabetta said, guessing she could trust him since he was with Optimus, "Get me out of here before that cop guy comes back."

"I'm already on that," he replied and quickly headed back to the front lawn of the campus.

Elizabetta looked behind only to see a yellow robot fighting with the police-bot. She assumed the yellow robot was on Optimus' side as well—just how many of these robots were there? They were like a disease now, everywhere and attacking everything, spreading and unstoppable.

Ironhide got her back to Optimus Prime just as the Autobot leader drove the helicopter-bot off. It wasn't long before the police-bot went tearing off after him and Elizabetta breathed a huge sigh of relief knowing that she was safe now. Ironhide sat on the ground and the girl looked around the front lawn. Graduation should've been close to over by now, but everybody was gone, some chairs were overturned and others scattered about. The stage was nothing but a pile of rubble…and Elizabetta couldn't even begin to imagine what unfortunate students had been on it. She just hoped everyone had gotten to a safer area before they ran the risk of being stepped on and crushed under giant metal feet.

Optimus suddenly turned to her as three other robots gathered around him. Elizabetta looked up at them as they stood confidently and erectly before her. Optimus looked down at her with soft, kind optics as he spoke, "Do you see how dangerous it is for you now?"

Elizabetta didn't say anything as she slowly nodded her head. Optimus then continued, "Will you come with us then?"

"Yes." Elizabetta knew she couldn't afford to put more innocent lives in danger because of her actions. Enough had already paid the price today.

Optimus nodded saying, "If we leave now we should be able to get to the base by nightfall."

"Optimus, I uh, have a question," Elizabetta remarked.

"Yes?"

"Do you think I could get my things out of my car and take them with me?"

"Alright, but let's do this quickly."

Elizabetta lead them over to where her car was parked and Optimus ordered Ironhide to transform. Ironhide grumbled as a couple suitcases full of clothes were loaded into his cab, plus other various items that Elizabetta had had and wanted to take with her to the Autobot base. Once she had finished loading the items she wanted into Ironhide, the rest of the Autobots proceeded to transform and Elizabetta climbed inside Optimus Prime. His door shut after she had fastened her seatbelt and then they headed off the campus and towards the Autobot base.

* * *

"Starscream's qualms about that wretched human female were right."

The gray-bot looked at him after he spoke, "Yes, but knowing you, Barricade, your intentions were not to retrieve the girl for him."

"You know my loyalties are only to Megatron."

"Starscream is the rightful leader of the Decepticons because of Megatron's passing."

"I refuse to serve him, Blackout. And if my suspicions are correct, the Allspark has managed to rebirth inside that human."

Blackout looked at him like he had lost it, but then his own scans of the girl convinced him that Barricade was speaking the truth. "If it has?" he asked.

"I will use her to bring Megatron back. Will you help me?"

"If Starscream discovers this treason against him he'll have us—

"Starscream is an incompetent wimp who doesn't know the first thing about leadership. Heck, I doubt he could find his own tailpipe with two hands!" Barricade snarled, "Starscream will not find out until it's too late. It will be easy to keep our secret from him."

Blackout considered it for a moment, "Alright, I'm in."

"Let's get to work."

* * *

Elizabetta watched the sunset in the rearview mirror, and when it had finally sank below the horizon, she looked out the windshield and saw the twilight and a sky full of stars birthed before her. The day was over and behind her, the night alive and in front of her, a new life waiting. She had graduated; the diploma lay next to her on the seat. Looking at the steering wheel that moved by itself in front of her, she asked, "Could I turn on the radio?"

"Yes."

Elizabetta turned it on and immediately tuned into a news station hoping they would be talking about the terrible graduation ceremony at her college. To her luck, they were, and she tuned in just as the radio announcer said, "It has been confirmed now that two staff members and one student at the University of Nevada were killed today after the stage collapsed. At this time only the name of the student has been released. Hearts and condolences go out to the family of Sadie Blaire, who had just been handed her diploma when the stage fell down around her. Five others are in critical condition at this…"

Elizabetta abruptly turned off the radio, not wanting to hear anymore. She remembered Sadie's giddiness the night before when she had gotten that dumb old alien keychain she had wanted. Such small and material things had made her happy, and today she had wanted to make her friend feel like she was fitting in since she couldn't take off her graduation robe because of weird symbols she had on her arms and spine, she had been the only friend to come and check and see if she was okay, and today she was gone…gone because a friend of hers put everyone's life on the line.

"Oh Sadie," she murmured, "I'm so sorry."

And she laid down on the seat and cried.

* * *

And so ends chapter two. Don't expect a quick update on chapter three...it may be another month before I get this updated. Please bear with me. And many thanks to those of you who are reading and reviewing, keep up the good work, and, please review! XD


	3. To Grant Life

Writing is much more of a passion than making AMVs for YouTube or drawing...but that's just a random blurb. Now, I know at the end of the last chapter I said that updating would be awhile...well, I certainly didn't mean _this_ long of a while...so I apologize for the wait. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I made it long. Merry Christmas by the way and Happy New Year too!

* * *

**Chapter 3: To Grant Life**

Elizabetta had fallen asleep crying in Optimus' seat and awoke when Optimus suddenly stopped driving. Groaning, she rubbed her eyes that were still tired from her crying and sat up, feeling a slight ache in her heart at the passing of her friend. After blinking a few times, she squinted her eyes and peered out the windshield. She asked in a tired voice, "Where are we?"

"The base," replied the Autobot leader.

"Oh," Elizabetta stated as she fumbled free from her seatbelt and then groped for the door handle.

"Is something wrong?"

"No," she lied as she leaned her full weight against the door…and then opened it. The girl fell out of the cab and landed harshly on her back on the floor. She groaned again as pain slowly traveled through her and tears began to prick at her eyes, "Today just isn't my day."

Optimus transformed and squatted to look at her, "Are you alright?"

She started to sit up, "I will be okay…Optimus if it isn't too much trouble I'd like to go back to the campus and try to find Sadie's parent's…"

"No, we don't have the time."

Elizabetta looked up at him, "Look, it's my fault she's dead and I want to apologize. Sadie was one of my closest friends…and because of me she's gone. What kind of friend does that make me?" Her eyes started to overflow with tears and she quickly turned her face away, not wanting Optimus to see her cry.

The other Autobots transformed, with the exception of Ironhide, and began to gather around trying to figure out what was going on until Optimus dismissed them and ordered them to go with Ironhide to prepare Elizabetta a room. Once he and Elizabetta were alone, the Autobot leader turned back to her and said, "I'm sorry about your friend. I understand what it's like to lose one. You need to understand that it's not your fault she's dead."

The girl bit her lip, trying to hold back another wave of tears. Her voice broke as she said, "Then who else am I supposed to blame? If I had just listened to you last night and gone with you…then she would've lived."

"Perhaps…but she would've died one day."

"But not so soon," Elizabetta sobbed.

Optimus scooped her up in his hand and stood to his full height. "Elizabetta, do you believe people exist for a reason?"

She sniffled, "I suppose."

"Do you believe people die for a reason too?"

She shrugged, "It's possible."

"Life is a precious thing, and it breaks my spark to see an innocent being killed by the hands of the Decepticons. I understand the pain you feel Elizabetta, but perhaps her purpose in life has been fulfilled, that, if there is an afterlife, she was needed there."

"And what purpose was that? She was so young; she didn't get a chance to accomplish anything!"

"That's not true Elizabetta. She was able to show you the true meaning of friendship and kindness, she was able to show you the fragility of life, and she was able to show you where you need to be in order to be safe."

Elizabetta was silent, knowing that Optimus did have a point there. And after she thought about it for a few long moments, she asked, "So you're basically saying that her entire purpose in life was to be there for me, to help me understand, and to help me find my way?"

Optimus nodded, his optics glowing sympathetically.

She sighed heavily and was silent a few more long moments before she finally said, "I can accept that."

"Do understand that she lived a good life Elizabetta, she did not die in vain."

"I know. I'll just explore whatever powers I seem to have now and once I master them I will rip apart that sorry son of a bitch that killed her."

Optimus held her to his chest to try and calm her down, "I can't risk you getting hurt."

"Just what importance do I have to you?"

"You may be the key to the survival of our home world, along with our race. However, I will not make you do anything you do not wish to. But since you are here, I believe it would be the best choice if you did not leave for a while. There's no telling what the Decepticons are up to."

"It's probably best I stay in here so I don't cause anybody else to be killed," Elizabetta huffed sarcastically, her tears had ceased and she was beginning to fall asleep from the comforting warmth of Optimus' spark.

"We need to get you to a recharge berth, I can tell just by looking at you that you're tired," Optimus stated.

"Recharge berth? What?"

"I guess in your terms it would be called a bed," Optimus clarified, checking the internet to see what humans slept in.

"Oh…do you think the others have my room ready yet?"

"Probably not," he said and then offered, "You can stay with me if you like."

She looked up at him, "If I weren't this tired I would say no, but since I'm completely exhausted, I don't care where I sleep at this point."

"Alright then," replied the Autobot leader as he headed to his room. It wasn't long before he arrived there, but Elizabetta had fallen asleep along the way. Not wanting to wake her up, he laid down on his own recharge berth and left her where she had fallen asleep, on his chest, directly over his spark.

* * *

The next morning when Elizabetta work up, she felt quite refreshed, she had gotten a lot of sleep and felt very wide awake. The only things that bothered her were she had to use the bathroom, Sadie was still dead, and she was hungry. Sitting up, Elizabetta took in her surroundings. She saw she was sitting on top of Optimus' chest and she figured this was his room. It was quite spacious for a single transformer, it had about three rooms, a living area complete with a couch and other lounging items, it had an office, and there was his bedroom.

She didn't see anything of the sort that resembled a human bathroom. Looking at Optimus, she saw he was still asleep. She groaned and stood up before saying softly, "Optimus?"

He didn't stir, and so she repeated his name, this time louder, "Optimus? Wake up! I need to go to the bathroom!"

His soft blue optics came online and he looked up at her, "You need to—oh. Well, come with me, I'm sure your room is ready by now."

"Make this snappy, I really have to go."

He lifted her in his hand and got up from the recharge berth. Heading out the door, he promptly walked to Elizabetta's room and set her down outside. She immediately tore inside and quickly found the bathroom. Optimus waited for her to come back out, and when she did, she was wearing a new set of clothes and her hair was brushed.

"Better now?" he asked.

"Much better," Elizabetta confessed, "Do you have anything I can eat here?"

"Ross went out yesterday to get something you humans call 'food,'" Optimus explained and he watched as Elizabetta's expression dropped.

"Ross is here?"

"Yes, is that a problem?"

She growled, "You mean to tell me you couldn't have dropped him off a cliff somewhere? He's the reason why I'm with you guys right now! The next time I see him I think I might just rip his head off."

"You're quite a violent human…"

Elizabetta shot him a glare, "You haven't seen me yet."

Optimus sensed that was a threat and was going to dismiss it until he remembered that it was possible the Allspark had come back into existence through her…and that she was capable of hurting him if that were the case.

"Well, let's go see if we can go find you some food, and then I'll turn you over to Ratchet to see if we can figure out what happened to you."

"Ratchet?"

"He's our medical officer. Ironhide is the weapons specialist; he was the one we put your things into yesterday. Then there is Bumblebee, he's the yellow one…and there used to be Jazz until a few months ago when he was killed."

"Oh, I'm sorry…was he killed by the Decepticons?"

"Yes, by their leader, Megatron."

"Just what is the deal with you transformers?" Elizabetta asked.

Optimus lifted her into his hand and headed off towards Ross' room. "We're aliens from another planet known as Cybertron. The Autobots and Decepticons have been at war for millions of years. The Decepticons were after the Allspark since it is our life force; it allows us to create more of our kind. Megatron wanted to get this and create an army to overtake Cybertron, along with the rest of the universe. The Autobots wanted to stop him and maintain peace throughout the cosmos."

"And you think this Allspark exists in me?"

"The Allspark had gone missing and it turns out it was here on planet Earth. A few months ago, we were able to locate it and destroy it, along with Megatron. However, one tiny fragment of the Allspark was not destroyed. I kept that with me until it disappeared a couple days ago."

"So you think I found it?"

"Yes, and that it was able to rebirth inside of you."

"The Allspark fragment wasn't a funky looking disc was it, with weird symbols on it?"

"No, it wasn't."

"Then we're not talking about the same thing. A disc Ross wanted me to get for him made me like this."

"It's possible the fragment changed its appearance…"

Elizabetta pursed her lips to the side, "Just what would it mean if this Allspark came back to life through me?"

"It would mean you _are_ the Allspark."

"You mean…I would be able to grant life to your species?"

"It's possible."

"What if I don't want to?"

"I never said you had to, but the Decepticons definitely would make you."

Elizabetta began rubbing her temples, "This is just too much information for one morning…are we almost to Ross' room? I'm so hungry…he better have good food. And he better not have eaten it all already."

"We're almost there," Optimus said as he rounded a corner and walked partway down another hallway before stopping outside a door, "Now we're here." He set Elizabetta down on the ground and she glanced up at him.

Elizabetta then hesitantly walked up to the door before knocking and asking, "Ross are you in there? It's me, Elizabetta."

She heard some shuffling inside and a few long moments later Ross finally answered the door. He was still wearing his military uniform and he greeted her saying, "Hey Elizabetta, what's up?"

"I was wondering if you had anything I could eat, I'm hungry."

Ross glanced warily back up to Optimus before looking back to the girl in front of him, "Yeah, yeah I do. Come on in, I'll help you fix something."

"I'll leave you two alone. Ross, when she's finished, show her around and then take her to Ratchet so that he can examine her."

"Yes sir," Ross replied, saluting the Autobot leader before showing Elizabetta inside his room.

Optimus watched as the door closed and then he began walking to his office to get some work done. As he walked away though, he couldn't help but feel a bad vibe from Ross.

* * *

Elizabetta felt disgusted as she climbed over Ross' stuff just to get into his kitchen. And when she got there, she was not impressed at his dismal food supply. After digging through the cupboards a bit, she decided on a bowl of cereal. Before she poured the milk in though, she checked the expiration date to make sure it was okay. When she saw that it was, she poured it and then when she had enough, she put the cap back on the milk and put it in the fridge. She then sat down in a chair to eat her breakfast. _"I am so going to convince Optimus to take me grocery shopping. There is no way I'm going to eat anymore of this lowlife's food,"_ Elizabetta thought.

Ross watched her eat out of the corner of his eye, and once she was nearly done, he asked casually, "So, how old are you?"

Elizabetta swallowed and looked up from her cereal bowl, "Twenty-one."

"Are you single?"

She felt like choking, "Yes, but I'm not interested in anyone right now."

He shrugged, "I was just wondering. It's not like I'm interested."

The girl got up from her chair and went to the sink where she washed out the bowl and put it away thinking, _"Obviously you are if you're asking."_

"So, are you ready for that tour?" Ross asked as he got up from the chair he had been sitting in.

"Just take me to Ratchet," Elizabetta said turning back to him, "I'll have Optimus show me around later or something."

"Oh come on, you trust those dumb ass robots more than you do me?"

"For your information Ross, those dumb ass robots have saved my life _twice_. You did nothing but get me into this mess."

"It's not my fault; I didn't know what that disc would do."

"You could've gone in and gotten it yourself."

"Well whose fault is it that they didn't know how to fire a gun?" Ross questioned and when Elizabetta didn't say anything he added, "And whose fault is it that they decided to play 'tag along' instead of just wait somewhere while we were gone?"

"Just take me to Ratchet," Elizabetta said after a brief silence.

"Elizabetta, I apologize for what happened last night. I certainly didn't mean to screw your life up and if I had known that the disc would've done this, I would've gone in myself and left you with the gun. Really Elizabetta, I'm sorry, and I just want to help you through this now."

She looked at him with doubt in her eyes, but she was grateful for the apology, "Uh, thanks I guess, but I still don't trust you."

Ross shrugged, "Alright, I guess that's fair. Did you want to go to Ratchet?"

"Yes please."

"Alright, follow me." And he led her out of the room and down a series of halls.

Elizabetta tried to memorize where she was going, but everything looked the same and it was just proving to be an impossible task. She gave up and it wasn't long before Ross stopped outside a giant doorway and said, "Well, this is it. Have fun I guess."

"Right, see you later I guess."

"Yeah," he said nervously scratching at the back of his head before walking away.

Elizabetta shook her head and walked inside the room. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know what Ratchet was going to do, but she did want to know what was wrong with her. When she was inside, she saw a transformer working at a computer and not knowing if it was Ratchet, she cleared her throat and said, "Sorry to interrupt you, but are you Ratchet?"

He looked over at her, "I am. I presume you are Elizabetta."

She nodded, "Optimus said I was to see you."

Ratchet nodded this time, "Yes, I wanted to examine you to see what is it that's causing the results of our energy readings to spike way off the charts." He held his hand out to her so he could place her on one of the examining tables.

She hesitated before she climbed into his hand and he gently lifted her to one of the examining tables. Elizabetta watched him as he took out a couple devices, she didn't like the looks of them, and when he started approaching her with one, she started taking a few cautious steps back. Ratchet stopped and said, "Don't worry, these devices won't hurt you. They're just going to scan you."

Elizabetta figured she could go by that and allowed him to scan her. The process didn't take very long, just a few minutes, and when he was done, he read the results from the scans. He sighed heavily before saying, "Well, you match the energy signatures of the Allspark."

"So, I _am_ the Allspark?"

"Yes. I don't understand how though. Optimus had mentioned the fragment went missing."

"But I didn't find the fragment, I found a disc."

"What happened when you touched the disc?"

Elizabetta explained the story, from how the symbols on the disc traveled up her arms and spine and tattooed themselves there, how the disc set off a bright light that went off into the blue oblivion of forever…

"Symbols? You wouldn't mind showing them to me would you?"

"I guess not," Elizabetta stated as she tugged off her long-sleeve shirt, revealing the symbols on her arms and most of them on her back. Her bra obscured a couple of the symbols on her back.

Ratchet took one of her tiny hands between his fingers and carefully extended her arm so he could examine the symbols. He zoomed his optics in on them and after a few long moments he finally said, "Those symbols were on the original Allspark."

"Do you know what they say?" she asked as she put her shirt back on.

Ratchet shook his head, "Only an elite few know. The Cybertronian language is so old on the Allspark that only a few transformers are actually alive that know what it says…there are so few alive that it would be just simply impossible to find one of the elders now."

"So…what if you did know what it said?"

"I don't know. Perhaps the Allspark wouldn't be needed anymore. I'm surprised you don't know what the symbols mean, after all, you are the Allspark now."

"Maybe it's up to me to figure out."

"That's a very good guess," Ratchet said, "Well, if you want to get going, you can. The scans didn't indicate anything was wrong with you…other than you are immortal now."

Elizabetta blinked, "I-Immortal?"

"Yes, you're still human, but more superhuman; you have abilities other humans don't."

"Like what?"

Ratchet shrugged, "I don't know for sure, you'd have to discover those on your own. But don't do anything stupid trying to find out."

Elizabetta thought about this for a second and then crossed her fingers behind her back before she said, "I promise."

Ratchet then offered her his hand and she climbed on. He set her down on the ground before walking out and then went back to his work. Elizabetta walked out of the room and started down the hallway in the direction Ross had brought her, but when she got to the end of it, she realized she had absolutely no idea where she was going. She looked both to the left and to the right, trying to decide which route looked more familiar, but in her mind, both were the same. She sighed angrily, "Just how am I supposed to find someone to take me grocery shopping?"

"Need a lift?" a familiar voice suddenly asked from behind her.

Elizabetta turned around only to see Optimus standing there, towering above her. She smiled, "You're just the bot I was looking for."

He smiled warmly at her, "You look like you're lost."

She blushed, "Well…I am."

"Didn't Ross show you around?"

She shook her head, "No…I didn't want him to. Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I don't really trust him."

"It's understood. There's something about him that I don't quite like myself," Optimus confessed, "Would you like me to show you around?"

Her eyes brightened as she looked up at him, "That would be greatly appreciated. And do you think afterwards you could take me to the grocery store? Ross' food isn't the greatest, and I don't want to have to rely on him for my meals."

"That's fine by me, just so long as you don't mind going in a semi. Ross had a problem with it, so he went with Bumblebee."

"There's more room in a semi! What is he talking about?!"

Optimus shook his head and lifted her up and placed her on his shoulder. He proceeded to give her a tour of the base and explained what each room was. He also gave her little hints so that she would remember where she was going. Afterwards, Elizabetta felt like she knew the Autobot base like the back of her hand, and Optimus allowed her to direct him to the exit so that they could go to the grocery store. Elizabetta managed to get them to the exit without getting them lost, and once they were there, Optimus set the girl down on the ground before he transformed into his vehicle mode. Once he had transformed, Elizabetta got inside and Optimus headed out, going to the same store that Bumblebee had taken Ross to.

Along the way, Elizabetta asked, "If you don't mind me asking, just how did Megatron kill Jazz?"

Optimus sighed heavily before replying, "Megatron…ripped him in half."

Elizabetta winced at the thought of a giant metal being that was strong enough to rip another giant metal being in half. "I'm sorry Optimus."

"It's alright."

"Do you still have his body?"

"Yes, Ratchet repaired it and it's in a separate room in the base."

"Do you think…I could see him when we get back?"

"If…if you really want to."

"Thank you Optimus."

They traveled in silence until they got to the grocery store and Optimus parked towards the back of the parking lot. When he turned off his engine, Elizabetta hopped out and said, "I know that you're probably worried about the Decepticons, so I'll try not to take a long time."

"Alright."

And Elizabetta walked off into the store. Once inside, she grabbed a shopping cart and began perusing the store. It wasn't long before her cart was filled with various food items and drinks. Once she felt she had enough to get her through a week or maybe two, she went to the check out and began putting her stuff on the conveyer belt. The cashier proceeded to scan all of her items and another person bagged them and began putting the bags back into the cart. Once the cashier had finished, she rang up the total amount, close to two-hundred dollars. The cashier looked at her while Elizabetta sighed heavily and pulled out her debit card. She made the payment using that, knowing that if anyone was looking for her, they'd be able to track her now. She just didn't have two-hundred dollars in cash…she needed to go to an ATM.

"You know you look familiar," the cashier said suddenly, "Your name Elizabetta Allaire?"

"Oh," she smiled innocently wondering how the cashier knew her, "No I'm not her."

"Ah, that Elizabetta girl's been on T.V. since last night. She went missing; cops have been trying to find her. They're offering a cash reward."

"Yeah, I heard. People have confused me as her a couple times already this morning. Well, I need to get going." And Elizabetta took her cart and left the store as quickly as possible.

She returned to Optimus promptly and began loading her bags inside of him. Her face was a bit pale and she wasn't talking, and the Autobot leader sensed something was wrong. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm a missing person; the police are looking for me. We need to get out of here fast, that cashier recognized me since she saw my picture on T.V. or something. I had to pay for my groceries with my debit card; they'll be able to track me as soon as my name comes up in their system."

"The police?"

"Yes, the police enforce our laws and help find people who are missing—

"I know what they do Elizabetta, I'm just wondering if it could be Barricade."

"Who's Barricade?"

"Remember that police car from yesterday?"

"Oh yeah…oh God you don't think he's behind this do you?"

"There's no way of knowing, come on, we need to get out of here stat."

Elizabetta quickly finished loading the last of the groceries into Optimus and then quickly put the cart away before she climbed inside the Autobot leader's cab. Optimus then started his engine and quickly pulled out of the grocery store parking lot, heading back to the base. Elizabetta noticed he was driving rather quickly and she sighed saying, "I'm sorry Optimus, I didn't mean to cause this trouble."

"It's alright, you didn't know and we haven't run into any trouble…yet."

Elizabetta swallowed, praying that they would get back to the base before anybody, especially the Decepticons, came after them. She kept checking the rear view mirrors to see if there were any flashing red lights, there never were any. And she was able to breathe a sigh of relief when they pulled back into the base.

Optimus took Elizabetta to her room and she unloaded the groceries from him there, and he waited as she put them away before he took her to go see Jazz. He couldn't figure out why she would want to see him, but maybe seeing him would offer her a little more closure about her friend's death. When she finally came out of her room, he lifted her onto his shoulder and took her back to a private section of the base where Jazz's body was.

Optimus walked silently into the room and Elizabetta held her breath, feeling as if she had been brought into some holy shrine. Jazz's body was lying on a metal platform in the middle of the room. The room itself was a site to behold; it had carvings on the wall similar to the symbols on Elizabetta's arms and back. There were statues of different transformers, watching down upon Jazz to make sure he was protected in his afterlife.

Elizabetta felt the urge to cry as she breathed, "He looks like he's sleeping."

"He is at peace now."

And suddenly Elizabetta got another urge; she wanted to touch the dead transformer. There was some ache in her heart that was similar to that of the ache she felt for Sadie's passing…and she just wanted to touch him, to put herself at some sort of peace.

"Optimus…could I…touch him?"

Optimus was silent for a few moments, "Alright, just be careful." And he set her down on Jazz's chest.

Even though she didn't want to disrespect the dead transformer, Elizabetta kneeled down on his chest and place her palm on his chest, right above where his spark would have been if he were still alive. She stayed that way for a few minutes until she began to feel a strange warmth coming from beneath her. Startled, she stood up and looked to Optimus who picked her up and put her back on his shoulder.

"Ready to go?" he asked looking to her.

"W-What happened?"

Optimus snapped his attention to his fallen comrade…the only problem was…he wasn't fallen anymore, "J-Jazz?!"

The silver mech sat up and looked to his leader, "Optimus…what's going on? Just where the _hell_ am I?"

"Jazz, Megatron killed you…and now suddenly you're alive."

"That might explain the headache…where's Ratchet?"

"In the med bay," Optimus replied and then gave him directions on how to get there, "Jazz, after you've seen Ratchet, I would like to speak to you."

"Alright, catch ya later Optimus." And the silver Autobot left the room.

Optimus immediately returned his attention to Elizabetta, "What did you _do_?"

She thought he was mad and she tried to hide from him, but it didn't work, "I…I honestly don't know, I just had this urge to touch him and then the next second he was alive…"

Optimus grinned, "That must be one of your powers…to grant life, even to those who have previously fallen."

She smiled weakly, "I guess that's pretty awesome."

"Yes…and now I see why the Decepticons want you," he said as he started taking Elizabetta back to her room.

"Why?"

Optimus didn't speak again until they got to her room and he set her down outside her door. He explained, "Barricade and Blackout must want to use you to resurrect Megatron."

Elizabetta's face paled, "But…"

"Don't worry about them; I won't let them get to you. However, I don't know how to thank you enough for returning a close friend to me."

She smiled, "Well, what can I say. There's no reason why we should both be suffering from the same pain. And I guess it's fair, because I made a new friend today in a giant robot that I never thought I would get along with."

Optimus smiled warmly down at her, "Thank you Elizabetta. I will see you later."

She nodded, "You too Optimus."

And he walked away to go fill Jazz in on what had happened since he had died, and what would be happening now that they had Elizabetta.

* * *

Do you think you can leave me some nice reviews for a present? I'll try to update sooner next time, but I got to go to bed now.


	4. Tonight at Seven

Okay, so I think it's been about a month since I last updated this. And golly gee, time sure does fly when you're busy with midterms, job training, and other wonderful homework assignments. I hope you enjoy this chapter...I'll try to update sooner the next time.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Tonight…at Seven**

_Buzz._

Elizabetta rolled over in her bed away from the noise when she heard something buzz on the nightstand beside her bed.

_Buzz._

She groaned a bit and pulled the pillow over her head. All she wanted to do was sleep a bit longer…and she didn't feel like reaching over and seeing what was vibrating.

_Buzz._

"Alright!" she growled in a hoarse voice and sat up in the bed. Elizabetta looked over to her nightstand only to see it was her cellphone vibrating. She had completely forgotten she had that. Sighing, she reached over and picked it up only to see she had a missed call. Checking her call history, she saw the call was from her parents…maybe they had left a voicemail.

It took her all of two seconds to access her voicemail box; she did have a new voicemail, and it was from her parents, more specifically, her mother. "Liz-bee…"

Elizabetta winced at the nickname.

"Honey darling, if you're there, will you please call when you get the chance? Your father and I are worried sick about you. We want to know if you're okay…were you kidnapped Liz-bee? We have the police out looking for you, we want you home so badly, we miss you, we love you. Call us _please_."

She sighed as she turned off her phone and laid it back on the nightstand. Elizabetta knew she couldn't call her parents back, she couldn't let anyone find her, she didn't want to risk having the Decepticons intercept her messages and tracking her, or worse, tracking down the people she was sending the messages to. There was no telling if the Decepticons, especially Barricade or Blackout, would try to hold her family members or friends hostage until she surrendered herself to them. Elizabetta shivered at the thought. When it came to love and torture, Elizabetta was willing to _die_ to protect the ones she loved from being tortured to death.

Figuring since she was up, Elizabetta decided to stay awake and get breakfast ready. She was hungry…

* * *

"Hi, I'm Officer Carl Braxton. I've been assigned to be the chief investigator of your daughter's disappearance," said a police officer to Mr. and Mrs. Allaire.

Elizabetta's father sized up the man that had been chosen to be in charge of the investigation. There was something about him that made a shiver run cold down his spine. Maybe it was the black piercing eyes, maybe the hair as black as night without a moon. Carl was muscular, fit, well-poised, and had thick solid black eyebrows. His skin was white and his lips were pressed into a thin line. The questionable officer extended his hand to Mr. Allaire.

Hesitantly, Elizabetta's father shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you Carl, I'm Sampson Allaire, but you can call me Sam." He swore he saw Carl's eyes flash red when he said the name Sam. "And this is my wife Louise."

Carl then shook her hand and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you." He then took his hand back and continued, "Considering what happened at her graduation, with the stage collapsing and the death of one of her close friends…it would be understandable that she ran away. Do you have any idea where she would runaway to though?"

"It couldn't have been far from the college campus," Louise explained, "Her car was found on campus, but all her stuff was gone."

"Perhaps she left with someone else?"

The mother shook her head, "We spoke to her friends, they said they never saw her after the stage collapsed and everyone ran."

"I've heard unconfirmed reports that giant robots caused the stage to collapse—

"We never saw any robots," Sam said defensively.

Carl eyed them skeptically for a few moments before he said, "Can you tell me who her friends are? I'd like to talk to them."

"Julia Farquhar, Ryan McNally, and Chester Vale."

The officer nodded, "Alright, I'll go look them up. Our force will not rest until we find your daughter."

Elizabetta's parents smiled, "Thank you sir."

* * *

After eating a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes with bacon and eggs—Elizabetta had felt like treating herself, plus she had been _hungry_—she took a shower and got dressed. After brushing her teeth and her hair, she went out of the bathroom and flicked on the television and turned the channel to the first news station she could find. It was a local news station and she groaned when she saw the top story was about her.

Elizabetta decided to watch it for a little bit to see if the police were any closer to finding her, but when she realized they weren't, she sighed heavily and turned off the television. Just as she set the remote aside, she heard a knock on her door. Getting up, Elizabetta went over to the door and answered it only to see Ross was standing there.

"Oh," she said not at all thrilled to see him, "What brings you here?"

"Not even a hello, good morning? Come on Elizabetta, lighten up."

"Sorry Ross…what's up?"

"I could smell the aroma of a wonderful breakfast coming from here all the way from my room."

Elizabetta suddenly felt bitter. He better not have come here hoping to bum a free meal off of her. "Well, I hate to break it to you but there isn't anything left."

He chuckled, "I figured that. Nah, I only came here to see how things were going with you."

"I'm settled in just fine now."

"That's good to hear," he said rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"What's got you nervous?"

He stiffened when she said that and immediately returned his hand to his side, "N-Nothing. I was just going to ask you…if you're not too busy tonight…would you like to hang out with me?"

"Are you asking me on a date?"

His cheeks flushed, "Well um…yeah."

"If I recall correctly, the last time we really hung out you really screwed up my life…" she trailed off before adding, "And considering I'm not mortal anymore and the Decepticons are looking for me…do you really think it's safe to leave the base?"

"Well, I don't care if you're immortal…"

"How can you brush that off so lightly?"

"You're still going to age aren't you?"

"I…I don't know."

"It's not so bad if you still age then…though I wouldn't want to be stuck being a wrinkly old prune forever."

"…Thanks."

"Sorry…look if we went with Bumblebee we wouldn't have to worry so much. He's fast and could beat any Decepticon back here."

"One of the Decepticons that's looking for me is a police car Ross; he's going to be just as fast, if not, _faster_ than Bumblebee."

"We'll be alright. Now what do you say? Tonight at seven?"

Elizabetta couldn't think of a reasonable excuse to get out of it. After sighing heavily she said, "Alright, at seven."

Ross beamed, "Okay then, I'll see you then." And he walked away, obviously happier.

Elizabetta scowled and decided to go see how Optimus was.

* * *

All it had taken was a couple phone calls to the college campus and voila, Carl had the phone numbers and addresses of Elizabetta's friends. He decided it would be easier to call them, and after setting up the phone he was using so that it would record the calls, he dialed Julia's number.

"Hello?" a feminine voice answered.

"Hello, this is Officer Carl Braxton; I am in charge of the investigation regarding Elizabetta Allaire's disappearance. Is this Julia?"

"Yes sir."

"May I ask you a few questions?"

"I guess so."

"Alright, Elizabetta went missing the day of the graduation, after the stage collapsed. Did you happen to see where she went?"

"No, I was too busy trying to figure out what was going on."

"Do you know where she may have gone?"

"Other than her house, no I don't."

"Do you know why she may have runaway?"

"Well…other than Sadie's death, the night before graduation we were hanging around Area 51. Elizabetta went inside with a person who used to work there and the guy, his name was Ross, he told Chester, Sadie, Ryan, and me to leave if Elizabetta and him didn't return in thirty minutes. So when they didn't come back after a half an hour, we left. But before we left, we saw this bright blue light that went all the way up to the sky…"

"But Elizabetta was at the graduation."

"I think Ross may have given her a ride back. If you can find him, you might be able to find her."

"Do you know his last name?"

"No sir."

"Alright, thank you for your time Julia."

"No problem sir."

Carl hung up and proceeded to call Chester and Ryan, only to get nearly the same stories, just a little more detail as to what went on that night. The officer sat in his squad car and looked out his window as he thought about the information that had been presented to him. Maybe Ross had taken her back to that area after what happened at her graduation…

* * *

Elizabetta turned a corner when she almost crashed face first into Jazz's leg. She looked up at the Autobot and noticed that he was smaller than the rest of the Autobots, but if he could take on Megatron, she figured his little body could pack a punch. Jazz looked down at her and grinned, "Hey 'Betta."

"Hey Jazz. How are things with you?"

"Just fine and dandy, and I owe it all to you."

Elizabetta smiled, "Well…you're welcome."

"Where ya headed? Maybe I could give ya a lift there."

"I'm just looking for Optimus. Is he busy right now?"

"What are ya talkin' about? He's always busy; it's up to the rest of us to make him un-busy."

She chuckled, "I can do that."

"What are ya plannin' on buggin' him for?"

"Dating advice."

Jazz laughed, "Really?"

"Kind of."

"I'll take ya to him, but ya have to tell me what he says later on."

"Alright, deal," Elizabetta said and then extended her hand to shake his. She then hesitated when she remembered they really couldn't shake hands.

Jazz offered his finger to her and she shook that and said, "There, now we have an official deal."

"Right-o, come on, let's go." And he lifted her up onto his shoulder.

Elizabetta balanced herself by leaning against his head as he walked. It was so much easier to get around the base when she had someone to give her a lift.

* * *

"Blackout to Barricade."

"Barricade here, have you found anything?" Barricade asked after his holoform picked up his radio receiver and held it to his mouth.

"Elizabetta made a purchase at a store approximately one-hundred and thirty-seven miles from your location. How long will it take you to get there?"

"Aren't you there already?"

"I am, but I cannot interrogate the humans like you can. You are the police officer after all."

"Alright I get the point. Send me the coordinates; I'll rendezvous with you as soon as I can."

"Until then…here are the coordinates." Blackout transmitted the coordinates to Barricade before ending the transmission.

Barricade glared out the dashboard of the car before making a phone call.

* * *

"Knock, knock," Jazz said as he walked into Optimus' office without bothering to really knock, "Somebody would like to see ya." And the Autobot second in command set Elizabetta down on the Autobot leader's desk.

"Thank you Jazz," Optimus said as he observed his comrade, "You are dismissed."

"Aye, aye captain," Jazz remarked as his mockingly saluted his leader and left the room.

Optimus shook his head before looking to Elizabetta and asking, "So, what brings you here?"

"What is it that you guys see in women?"

Optimus knew that if he had been drinking something, he would've spit everything that he was drinking out of his mouth. "Well," he began caught off guard by the question, "We see their—

"Please don't say boobs and stuff like that."

"Are you asking me what we see women as?"

"Yes."

"Well, that depends on the person."

"Well…" Elizabetta trailed off as she thought about what to say, "You see…Ross asked me on a date and I told him I'd go, but I really, really, really don't want to go on a date with _him_ of all people."

"Then why did you say yes?"

"I didn't want to hurt his feelings…and I couldn't think of an excuse to get out of it."

"Then it looks like you're going on a date with him."

She pursed her lips to the side, "That's…not exactly what I wanted to hear…you see…I think Ross is planning on taking me outside the base somewhere, with Bumblebee. Don't you have a problem with that?"

"No…Bumblebee is perfectly capable of preventing you from being harmed or taken by the Decepticons."

She kicked his hand exasperated, "That's not what you're supposed to say!"

"Oh, so you're looking to me to get out of your date with Ross?"

"Yes…just say you have a problem with me going outside."

"Then he might keep your date in the base."

"Oh crap I didn't think about that…" Elizabetta remarked.

Optimus stared at her for a moment before asking, "What don't you like about him?"

"I just can't trust the guy…"

"Is it that, or can you just not forgive him?"

"Why wouldn't I forgive—oh yeah…that night," she paused, "No, I can't trust him or forgive him."

"I guess I can't blame you for that. Well…if you don't like him, what do you like in a guy?" Optimus questioned.

Elizabetta tapped her chin thoughtfully, "Well…he's got to be tall, dark, and handsome. I really don't care for body hair on a guy, but I guess it can't be helped. Um…I like them with a decent sense of humor and they have to be a strong, dependable muscle man."

Optimus chuckled, "Anything else?"

"Well yes," she answered and then continued, "I definitely have to be able to trust them with my secrets and I have to be able to forgive them. But back to looks, I prefer dark hair…blue eyes, someone who isn't a conniving, lazy bum who does nothing but sit in his boxers all day watching sports…someone who likes to have a good time. I want someone who will rescue me…a knight in shining armor to sweep me off my feet and give me one true love…" Elizabetta blushed as she finished.

"Perhaps I should've taken notes. That's quite a list."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"What do you look for in a woman?"

"Well…someone with adequate leadership capability and someone who I can depend on. I like the dark and mysterious kind too. As for optic color, it doesn't matter to me. Like you, I don't want anybody who is lazy or afraid to get their hands dirty, I like a femme with a decent sense of humor as well. She doesn't have to be very strong, but I really don't want a weakling that I'll have to rescue all the time…and I'm sick of pink."

"Nice…go on."

"I want someone who I can trust and someone who will forgive me if I should make a mistake. I like a girl to be random, that keeps the entertainment alive and I want someone who I can have fun with. I like a woman who knows when to be shy, when to be aggressive…or when to be both. And I really want someone to complete me someday."

"Awww, poor guy."

"Who, me?"

"Yeah…were you finished?"

"Not quite…"

"Well, what else?"

He sighed heavily before adding, "She has to be sexy."

Elizabetta burst out laughing, "Did you…did you just say…s-sexy?" She bit her lip in an effort to quell her laughter.

"Is there a problem with me saying it?"

"N-No," she stammered, insides still shaking with laughter, "It's just…not like you at all."

"I guess you and I need to spend more time together that way you can really get to know me."

"Are you asking me on a date?"

He shook his head, "I don't think a relationship between us would work out Elizabetta."

She groaned, "I'm not asking for a relationship with you…just help me from getting into one with Ross."

"I'm sorry Elizabetta, there's nothing I can do."

"I hate you," she breathed.

Optimus didn't say anything and instead, he lifted her in his hand and set her on the floor. Elizabetta glanced back at him as he continued working at his desk. She considered making a snarky remark about how she brought Jazz back to life and this is how he repaid her, but she thought better of it and left the room. Obviously that had been a waste of time…and even more obviously she was still stuck going on a date with Ross.

Sighing heavily, Elizabetta started walking back to her room. Sometimes she hated her kindness, she should've just said no to Ross. _"Maybe the date will go better than what I'm giving Ross credit for…"_ she thought in vain hope to settle her nerves, _"Oh who am I kidding?"_

* * *

Barricade waited as the phone rang and then finally a male voice answered, "Hello, Sam Allaire speaking."

The Decepticon winced at the name, "Hey, this is Carl. I just got word from another investigator on my team that Elizabetta made a purchase at a store one-hundred and thirty-seven miles from here. I am on my way there now. If I should happen to locate her, I'll let you know."

"Oh! Well, I hope that you find her then; this is excellent, excellent news! Keep us posted."

"I will." And he hung up smirking to himself as he deactivated his holoform and raced towards the coordinates Blackout had sent him. "Indeed Sam, this is very _excellent_ news," he chuckled to himself.

* * *

At around six that evening, Elizabetta got ready for her date with Ross. She didn't know where they were going so; she put on a pair of nice jeans and a casual top before doing her hair and applying a bit of make-up. She wasn't exactly sure why she was trying to make herself look pretty…she figured she was doing this out of habit.

Just as Elizabetta put her mascara away, there was a knock at her door. Elizabetta went over to the door and answered it, Ross was standing there. After glancing at the time on her cellphone she looked up at him and tried to be nice. Plastering a smile on her face she said, "Hey Ross, you're right on time."

Ross smiled. He had washed his black hair so it shined impressively. Elizabetta caught a faint whiff of aftershave on him. His clothes were clean and orderly…maybe this wouldn't be as bad as she thought it would be.

"You enjoying the view?" he asked.

A faint blush spread across her cheeks, "Sorry I didn't mean to stare."

"It's okay. So, are you ready to go on the best date of your life?"

"I guess so," Elizabetta said as she stepped out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"Shall I escort you to Bumblebee?" he asked, offering her his arm.

"Well, you're quite the charmer when you want to be," she replied as she took hold of his arm.

"I promise you," he said as they started walking away from her room and towards Bumblebee, "This date will not be boring."

She feigned a smile as she was suddenly hit with the feeling that something was going to go terribly, terribly wrong.

* * *

Well all I can say for now is dun, dun, DUN and please review!


	5. Dry Fire

So, you're probably all wondering what my excuse this time is for not updating so soon. Truth is...I've been busy with school/scholarships...and a boy. Not in any sort of sexual way though before you start thinking that. Anyways, I caught a break (a three day weekend from school woo hoo!) so I was able to finish typing this chappie. I hope you enjoy it. By the way, thanks to everyone who has been reading and reviewing, I love you guys, I honestly do.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Dry Fire**

Elizabetta had to admit that she was surprised Ross let her ride shotgun in Bumblebee. She had dated a guy in college that loved his car more than her and refused to let her anywhere near the front seat. He feared that if she even so much as graced her fingertips across the steering wheel that she would cost him hundreds of dollars in damages. He had been a waste of time, and she still remembered her words to him when she finally told him to hit the road. She grinned as she recollected the thought, _"Hey I'm afraid I'm going to have to end our relationship…you love your car more than you do me and it probably kisses better than I do anyway. Maybe if you sleep with it you'll enjoy that too."_ And she had walked away after that, leaving her ex-boyfriend angry and completely mortified. But it had been so worth it.

"Hello…Earth to Elizabetta," Ross' voice called suddenly, snapping her from her reverie.

"Hm?" she remarked, "Oh sorry…were you saying something?"

He shook his head and chuckled as Bumblebee drove out of the base. "I was just wondering," he said, "If you wanted to get something to eat."

"Oh, no thanks, I ate an hour ago. Though, I do feel like getting some ice cream," she confessed.

"Alright," Ross said flashing his teeth in a smile, "Bumblebee, think you can find an ice cream place?"

"Your wish is my command," the radio replied and Bumblebee tore off down the road.

Truthfully, Elizabetta didn't want ice cream; she wasn't in the mood for any kind of food or dessert, even if the dessert easily slid down one's throat. Heck, the only thing she was in the mood for was getting out of Bumblebee and walking back to the base. They weren't that far away yet, all she had to do was open the door, unfasten her seatbelt and jump…she shook her head, hoping that Ross didn't notice. As much as she longed to get out of the car, she didn't feel like hurting herself in the process, or even killing herself. Well, that was if the Allspark allowed her to die, which she doubted. She was immortal, she didn't know if was possible for her to die or not. Endless amounts of pain and torture could be inflicted upon her, but no, she would never die.

Did humans really want to be immortal? Did humans really desire to die? What was the purpose of life then if you knew you could never die, that you could take any risk you wanted and not suffer any consequence? Death was the biggest risk that a human could take. But what was her risk now if she couldn't die, if death were too impossible for her to achieve? She would out live everyone, her friends, her family, perhaps even most Autobots and Decepticons. Would she end up looking like some century old grandma, or a million year old teenager? Was it really worth giving up life's greatest risk in order to achieve immortality? To give up her age and perhaps even aging, to give up her friends and family, perhaps even identity just to fuel another species' war? She had never asked to be a part of this. She had never been asked if she wanted to be a part of this. Maybe one day she would want to die too, like the rest of the human species. Maybe one day she would want to get old and expire somewhere. But that would never happen now.

Just what was her reason to live, then?

"Earth to Elizabetta once again…" Ross' aggravating voice cut through her thoughts like a cold, sharp knife.

"What?" she snapped at him, but she didn't really care. He had ruined her life and she didn't have any reason or excuse to be nice to him, even if she had agreed to go on a date with him.

"Whoa now," he exclaimed a bit startled, "I was just going to ask you what kind of ice cream you want."

Elizabetta glanced out the windshield only to notice that while her mind had been busy ranting, Bumblebee had arrived at some sort of ice cream place. It was rather small and out of the way and she could hear Ross vaguely explaining beside her that since all the picnic tables were taken they could eat their ice cream inside of Bumblebee.

"I'll take a small vanilla and chocolate twist," Elizabetta numbly replied, "With chocolate sprinkles."

"On a cone or in a dish?"

"_What does he think I am? A two year old that will dribble my ice cream everywhere?"_ she thought sarcastically, "I'll have a cone."

He nodded and climbed out of the car, fingering his wallet in his back pocket. Elizabetta watched as he walked towards the ice cream place.

"Ay baby."

She smiled, "Yes Bumblebee?"

"You're not…in love with the boy?"

She chuckled when she heard the radio play Trisha Yearwood's song. "No I'm not," she answered, "Not at all."

"How come?"

"_D12 song,"_ Elizabetta thought, "I'm mad at him for screwing up my life."

"Don't worry, be happy."

"I won't be while he's around. Do you think you can just drive away and leave him here? I wouldn't mind, and he gets military discounts so he'll be able to find somewhere to stay and move on."

Bumblebee revved his engine a couple times, but he didn't go anywhere. Elizabetta took that as a no. She sighed heavily, not sure why Ross was needed at the base. He was just an inconvenience, a homeless son of a gun who didn't have a prayer. The Autobots had no need to help him, he would just die one day anyway, they mine as well speed up the process and kick him out…that way she wouldn't have to be stuck going on dates with him. He could hitch hike his way back to his stupid museum and ruin other people's lives there. What was one more life, besides her own? Surely she would see many more lives come and go.

Ross came back with the ice cream, but she was so bitter she wasn't sure if she could eat it. She managed to get the tasteless vanilla and chocolate to slide down her throat, numbing it wonderfully. The sprinkles were just small bodies that crunched in her mouth before they joined the insipid ice cream in her stomach. It reminded her of metal.

Metal. She smiled at the thought. Bendable, moldable, breakable, indestructible, unmovable metal. It was the noun and adjective of her friends, and it was what she sought protection in. She brought metal to life, she was wanted for that power, and now she tasted metal. It wasn't too unpleasant, it was sort of comforting. It reminded her of Optimus. But it had a bitter after taste, a taste she wished to expel as she ate the cone, but the cone was bland and dry and only made the after taste worse. It made her think of grease and Ross.

"So where do you want to go now?" Ross asked her as he leaned out the window and threw his napkin away in a trashcan.

Elizabetta handed him hers and he repeated the process. When he was back in the car, she glanced at him and said, "Let's drive around a bit and see if we come across anything interesting."

He nodded; completely unaware that he was boring her to pieces. Bumblebee took off down the road into the darkening twilight. Basking in the silence, Elizabetta looked out the window at the world as night's shadow began to overtake it. The stars were beginning to come out, headlights and taillights from other cars blurred and streaked by. The desert could be a serene place, but its beauty was only a mask to its true, unforgiving nature.

She glanced over at Ross. He was tracing his fingers along the steering wheel. She wasn't sure what he was thinking, and she couldn't decide if he was upset or just more interested in the car than her right now. She felt a pang of guilt and wished she wasn't so kind sometimes. She turned back to the window, hiding a blush.

"How far away is the next town?" Ross suddenly asked.

Elizabetta glanced at Bumblebee's stereo as he replied, "T minus fifteen minutes and counting."

"Alright," he replied, "Stop there, I have to use the restroom."

Elizabetta rolled her eyes, the blush turning to embarrassment when she realized that was what the perplexed look on Ross' face had been about, "I thought men had bigger bladders than women."

Ross shrugged, "When nature calls, you have to answer."

She smiled lightly and shrugged, "True."

The fifteen minutes didn't take long to expire, and before Elizabetta realized it, they were stopped in a small town at a rest area. There were quite a few people around and Elizabetta couldn't see all the way to the rest room. However, she decided she mine as well get out and stretch her legs even though she didn't have to use the bathroom.

* * *

"Barricade to Blackout."

"Blackout here. Did you find the girl yet?"

"I've located Bumblebee with a male and a female. It appears they are engaged in the disgusting human act of coupling. According to my scans, that girl is the one we've been looking for."

"Good, obtain her."

"Will do, in the meantime, see if you can locate Megatron's body."

"Of course," Blackout replied and ended the transmission.

* * *

Ross was more than happy when he relieved himself. When he was finished, he fixed his pants and then washed his hands. After drying them, he left the bathroom and walked out of the rest station. He was about to start walking back to Bumblebee when a police officer stepped in front of him. Ross swallowed hard at the black haired, ominous looking cop that towered over him.

"Will you come with me?" he asked in a sickly sweet voice.

Ross didn't trust the look on his face as he answered, "S-Sure." He followed the police officer around behind the building to an abandoned parking lot where the police car was.

The parking lot was eerily empty, dark; a street light was flickering above the police cruiser. Ross could feel little beads of sweat collecting at his brow and his voice was thick and choppy as he asked, "Ha-Have I done something wrong officer?"

"I'm Carl Braxton; I'm the officer in charge of Elizabetta Allaire's disappearance. May I have your name please?"

"Ross," he replied relaxing a bit, "Ross Jenkinson."

"Where were you two nights ago?"

"Hanging around Area 51, showing a bunch of college kids the sights. One of them was Elizabetta."

"Oh, well do you know where she is?"

Ross shook his head, "No sir, far as I know she made it back to her—

The officer seized him by the neck suddenly and squeezed hard. Ross gagged and his eyes filled with tears. He couldn't breathe, he struggled to choke, but his throat wouldn't work. Instead all moisture was vacuumed out of his mouth and replace with a dry fire that burned immensely.

"You're lying," he chuckled lowly and he gestured to something on the back of his car, "You see that insignia there?"

Ross nodded his head to the best of his ability.

"It represents the Decepticons, and I'm more than one-hundred percent sure that the filthy Autobots have filled you in on us."

"Who…are you?" Ross managed to choke out, "Why do you want me?"

The officer chuckled harshly and threw Ross into the pavement. "You are not worthy enough to know my name. And you are to serve as a spy to the Decepticons. Bring me Elizabetta immediately, if not, well, it won't be that hard to track you down and kill you."

Ross didn't move and irritated, the officer barked, "Go!"

The frightened man didn't have to be told twice.

* * *

Elizabetta sighed heavily when she got back to Bumblebee only to see Ross wasn't back yet. She leaned against Bumblebee's chassis and murmured, "He's probably constipated."

"Try our new cherry flavored Pepto-Bismol."

Elizabetta burst out laughing, "I don't think that works for constipation. I think I'll go peek in the men's room though and make sure he's alright."

"May God be with you."

Elizabetta laughed again as she headed towards the bathrooms. She hadn't walked very far when she caught Ross' familiar form making his way towards her. He wasn't coming from the direction of the bathrooms. Feeling a little sick, she took a small step back as he reached her and threw a fake and sloppy smile on his face. "Sorry I got…sidetracked," he explained measly, "I got to show you something though that I found."

The girl didn't trust him. "Tell me what it is first," she said.

"Tell you? If I told you then it wouldn't be a surprise."

He was making no movement to grab her and lead her off somewhere; he was exercising a great degree of self control. But Elizabetta still couldn't trust the look in his eyes; it was a liquid pool of panic, fear, adrenaline, and sweat.

"Ross honestly, I don't like surprises, can't Bumblebee come with us?" Her stupid trust in metal.

"Come on now, I brought you on the date, not Bumblebee. Bee was only our mode of transportation. It's just behind the bathroom. I'll show it to you…you'll be amazed."

"M-Maybe I don't want to be amazed. Let's just go back to Bumblebee and go back to the base…"

He placed his hands on her shoulders and gazed directly into her eyes. His look was so stern and so serious it sent a chill down Elizabetta's spine. "You don't trust me do you?" he whispered.

She looked away from him, and that was all that she needed to do to provide him with an answer. He sighed heavily and let one arm fall back to his side. "If you don't trust me now, then you never will. What happened back at Area 51…I didn't know that was going to happen. I know you are mad at me for being careless, but please don't focus all your anger on me."

Elizabetta heaved a sigh and gave in, "Alright, what did you want to show me?"

Ross nodded; his face still straight, "Follow me. This shouldn't take more than like, a minute."

Her heart suddenly screamed at her that something was wrong, but her feet didn't get the message as she took one step and then another, following the object of her hate, of her self-proclaimed misery. They went around behind the bathroom where there was a deserted parking lot, well deserted all except for an all too familiar policeman and his car.

Elizabetta gasped as terror swept through her form. She tried to take a step back in the direction of safety, but it was now that her feet followed her heart's original command not to move. "R-Ross," she stammered, "D-Don't you know who this is?"

Ross swallowed hard and decided to play dumb, "No…he just said he was looking for you so I—

"You _jerk_!" Elizabetta yelled, "How stupid can you honestly get?!"

The police officer chuckled lowly, "Ross…you can go now, you've served your purpose."

"Sorry Elizabetta," he whispered and then he ran back towards Bumblebee.

"No!" she hollered after him, "You can't leave me here with him!" She felt worse than betrayed when Ross' face didn't reappear. He throat felt dry and hoarse, she was trembling, shaking, tears threatened to leak out of her eyes. Her breath was coming out in heavy puffs and pants. Slowly, she let her eyes fall upon the Decepticon.

Mockingly he held the back door of his chassis open for her and a sickly sweet smile was on his face. "If you would please get in the car," he said in a bittersweet voice, "Don't bother running either, you're caught."

A lump formed in her throat and she still couldn't move, she couldn't speak anymore. "Do not try my patience," the officer growled.

"If I come, you won't ever let me go," she breathed her voice unsteady.

He growled and sauntered over to her, but left the door to the back seat open. "You don't have a choice," he chided, "The Decepticons were denied the Allspark the first time; they will _not_ be denied again."

Elizabetta tried to run. She didn't want to be a pawn; she didn't want to succumb to torture…to death. She knew if she wanted to die, all she would have to do was surrender herself to the Decepticons. They would find a way to kill her; after all, they were killing machines. It was not beyond their capability.

The officer grabbed her just as her feet started to move. She struggled against his grip, but she was no match for him. Finger nails dug into his synthetic skin, fists pounded against unbreakable bones, she tried to knee him in the groin, but he dodged the blow and threw her in the back of the cruiser. The door slammed shut and locked.

Shaking, Elizabetta sat up in the seat just in time to witness the officer suddenly disappear and reappear in the front seat of the cruiser. The seat belts suddenly went wild and strapped her down harshly into the seat. Elizabetta could hardly move and her arms were pinned to her sides. "Barricade," she breathed angrily.

He laughed and started to drive away, a lot faster than what Bumblebee had ever driven. She could see the reflection of his lights flashing and she could hear his siren as he tore away from the rest area. "Barricade to Blackout," he exclaimed with obvious excitement in his voice.

"What is it?"

"Have you located Megatron's body?"

"I am still in the process of doing so. Did you secure the human?"

"I have, send me the coordinates to your location."

"Alright, be here as quickly as possible, and don't let any of the Autobots see you."

"Will do, Barricade out." And he ended the transmission.

* * *

Ross ran back to Bumblebee and threw the door open before collapsing inside. He slammed the door shut and pressed down the lock. He was breathing hard, his nostrils flared as he caught his breath.

"What's the hurry?"

"A Decepticon," he breathed, "Got Elizabetta."

Bumblebee's engine roared, startling a few people standing near the yellow Camaro. The Autobot tore out of the parking lot suddenly and that was when Ross heard the police siren and saw the flashing lights. A low rumble came from Bumblebee's exhaust when he saw the car and he took off after it immediately.

"Hold on to your seat!"

Ross did just that.

* * *

Elizabetta heard Barricade growl suddenly and she looked over her shoulder out of the back windshield. She saw an all-to-familiar yellow Camaro with black racing stripes and relief swept over her. Obviously someone cared enough to rescue her...or cared enough to keep her for their own benefit. Whatever it was, a friend was coming, and it wasn't Ross.

She struggled to get free, but Barricade could feel her doing so and immediately tightened the grip the seatbelts had on her. It was hard to breathe and Elizabetta had no choice but to give up on struggling. Barricade went faster in an effort to lose Bumblebee, but it didn't work, Bumblebee was able to easily keep up with him.

She heard a grunt pass Barricade's lips as Bumblebee suddenly pulled up along beside them on the highway. The highway was suddenly theirs. No one was in front of them and everyone behind them was stuck behind them. Barricade swerved suddenly and attempted to push the yellow Autobot off the highway, however, Bumblebee pushed back, determined not to lose control.

Growling, the Decepticon sped up and dodged a small car. Bumblebee simply chased after the Decepticon. He was not going to let him get away with Elizabetta. Suddenly, Barricade's holoform's eyes lit up. The highway had gone from being two lanes, to one lane. He slammed on the brakes about twenty-five yards in front of Bumblebee. There was a semi barreling down the other side of the road.

Elizabetta gasped, "He's not going to be able to stop or go into the next lane!"

Barricade chuckled, "Precisely."

She swallowed and prepared herself for the impact…but instead she heard a loud, ear-piercing squeal come from Bumblebee's brakes and tires as he tried to stop…and he swerved. Barricade chuckled as the semi roared by and there was an eerie silence. Elizabetta watched numb, trembling, and confused as Barricade's gearshift went back into drive and he started to pull away from the scene.

Swallowing hard, Elizabetta slowly turned only to see skid marks on the road and Bumblebee gone. She felt extremely sick suddenly as she looked back to the front seats. Her rescue was over…Bumblebee had tried…but he didn't want to risk hurting either her or Ross. A dry fire ignited in her throat suddenly.

"_You're caught."_

_

* * *

_

She's caught...Bumblebee is gone...and what's next? You'll have to wait until the next chapter to find out. Good news is Spring Break is coming up soon. Please review and let me know what you thought!


	6. The Fallen

Well, I'm back to school again tomorrow, I know I said I'd update this during Spring Break, but Spring Break was hectic for me. I had so much homework, but Memorial Day weekend proved to be nice. I managed to update 3 stories and I do have good news: 14 days left of school for me, not counting weekends. I'll be graduating June 20, and after that, I plan on updating like crazy! This will be the first summer in 2 years where I don't have AP homework...YAY! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this. Sorry I kept you waiting.

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Fallen**

It was like they had raced the wind and the wind had actually lost. All of the feeble scraps of hope and goodness that she had been clinging to for dear life had slipped through her fingers into some lost forsaken void of darkness. Elizabetta looked out the window, but she couldn't tell whether or not the stars were still shining. Barricade had loosened the seatbelts on her somewhat, but she still felt like she was being choked if she squirmed too much.

They had been driving for so long now, Elizabetta was surprised that it was still nighttime. She didn't know which way was east or west and she was more than desperate to see the sunrise, something to give her some sort of hope that she wasn't completely lost in darkness. She was chasing the dawn and she was more than eager for the dawn to break on the horizon before her. She sighed heavily; knowing that the Autobots were a million miles behind them…whether or not Bumblebee and Ross were still alive was another question. She didn't care if Ross was dead, he deserved it, but Bumblebee…if he was dead at Ross' expense, Elizabetta knew that she would kill Ross herself. It wasn't like she could be arrested; she was hidden from everything by the Autobots, and now the Decepticons.

She peeled her eyes away from the window and looked towards the driver's seat where Barricade's holoform still was. He was focused on the road and relying messages back and forth to Blackout, but she couldn't understand what was being said, both of them spoke in Cybertronian, something she couldn't decipher, even if she had the Allspark within her.

Barricade deviated from the highway suddenly to a back road that led into a forest. Elizabetta felt a slight panic hit her. If he was taking her into the forest, how would she ever be able to see the sun?

If this were real life, Barricade would be human, she wouldn't be the Allspark, and he would be driving the car with her tied up in the back seat into the forest to either rape her or kill her or both and then dump her body for someone to find later. But this _was_ real life…and that wasn't going to happen. She was being taken into this God forsaken forest for who knows what reason…maybe Blackout was waiting there for him…or Starscream, but Barricade had made no effort to contact him.

Something wasn't right.

Starscream didn't know what was going on. Elizabetta knew that Starscream was acting as leader of the Decepticons since their former leader, some Megatron person had died. She knew that they were trying to obtain her so that they could hopefully bring back to life their deceased leader. But maybe Starscream didn't want Megatron brought back to life…her eyes widened when she realized what he was planning, he just wanted her power. And if Megatron were brought back to life…then he would want to just use her for her power as well.

"Barricade I feel sick," she heard herself blurt out suddenly.

He glanced back at her for a moment before he turned his eyes back to the road. "Then be sick," he exclaimed. He would not risk her getting out and running away.

All the nausea she had felt suddenly disappeared. If that plan didn't work, she would think of another. He would have to let her out at some point…

"Where are we going?" she asked.

He didn't answer or even acknowledge her question as he kept his eyes on the road. She sighed heavily knowing that she wasn't going to get through to him, Barricade seemed to be a professional at this. He knew what to say, what questions to answer, and what protocol to follow. Escaping from him was going to be harder than she thought. She had no other choice but to play along for now.

"Why don't you go to sleep?" Barricade asked.

She eyed him warily, knowing that he didn't want her to see what was coming up ahead or he wanted her to be in a weakened state if he was going to transfer her over to another Decepticon. Carefully, she replied, "I'm not tired."

"Are you sure? It's almost three in the morning."

"You just want me to fall asleep because you either don't want me to see something, you want me in a weakened state, or you just want me quiet."

Barricade chuckled, "Sounds like you know your stuff. Tell me, did the Autobots tell you what to do incase you were kidnapped?"

She shook her head. "No," she answered, "It's called television."

Barricade growled, angry that humans could actually gain knowledge from such deluded and sinful programming. He glanced back at her before saying, "No matter what you knowledge you have, it isn't going to help you out of this situation."

"That's what you think," she muttered.

"What was that?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied, stiffening slightly. She watched as the corners of his lips curled into a scowl.

"You will go to sleep," he said.

Elizabetta gasped when some sort of chemical sprayed in her face out of nowhere. It reeked and it burned her eyes. Suddenly she felt her senses fail and she felt herself slump forward before she found darkness.

* * *

"Ross?"

The man groaned when he heard his name. Lazily he attempted to open his eyes, but all he saw was a blurry and groggy mess of red, yellow, and darkness. He couldn't register where he was…

"Ross?"

Bee. Bumblebee was calling him, attempting to wake him up from his slumber. But oh he had a splitting headache and his head was resting uncomfortably against something…what he didn't know.

"Ross are you okay?"

"Yeah Bee," he said, suddenly shocked by the way his voice sounded…broken, cracked, weak…he attempted to lift his head and look around, but failed. "Bee," he exclaimed, "Please tell me I got drunk and extremely lucky with Elizabetta and that right now all I'm experiencing is a hangover."

"If only it were that simple…are you injured?"

Ross managed to lift his head and rest it against the back of the seat and as he began to come to a little more, he asked, "What happened?"

"Barricade captured Elizabetta; I pursued but went off the road and slammed into a tree."

Ross remembered suddenly the events of that evening and he felt his nerves jump when he remembered the horror of the tree suddenly right in front of them. He looked in front of him only to see a bloody air bag. "Oh God…" he breathed, "Can you contact the others somehow?"

"I have already, they're on their way."

"Did you tell them about Elizabetta?"

"Not…yet."

He sighed heavily and then after a few quiet moments he said, "I really hope Ratchet has one huge painkiller."

* * *

Elizabetta woke up feeling cold. She didn't want to open her eyes; she didn't want to know where she was. But alas, she opened her eyes out of habit only to see herself stranded on a metal table and fallen Decepticon soldiers all around her. The room was brightly lit, but it was artificial light. She sighed heavily; sadness seeping out of her in a breath…the dawn never came. She had missed it.

"It's about time you woke up," a brusque voice suddenly said.

Elizabetta whirled around only to see Barricade standing beside the table; Blackout was at a control panel, scanning something. She let her eyes fall away from Blackout and she looked back to Barricade. "Where am I?" she asked.

"That's not important," he answered, eyeing her carefully.

"Who are they?" she then inquired, pointing at the various other transformers that were lying on metal tables in the room.

Barricade pointed, "That's Bonecrusher, he was killed by Optimus Prime—

"How did…Optimus kill him?"

The Decepticon narrowed his optics at her, "He beheaded him." He chuckled when Elizabetta clutched her throat. He then looked to the next transformer, "That's Brawl, he was killed by the human military. Over there is Frenzy, sadly he misfired and accidentally beheaded himself."

Elizabetta guessed it must have been quite the battle if the Decepticons experienced such heavy casualties and the Autobots only experienced one…except their casualty was alive again. "You, Blackout, and Starscream were the only ones that survived amongst the Decepticon ranks?" she questioned.

"Yes…and we are still looking for Scorponok."

"What about Megatron?"

"He's dead…he was killed by Sam Witwicky when the Allspark was placed inside of his chest and overloaded his spark, destroying both him and all but one fragment of the Allspark."

"Why don't you have Megatron's body here?"

"The Autobots purposefully scattered their remains across the globe in order to make our task of rebuilding ourselves even more difficult. We haven't found his yet," and then he looked at her suspiciously, "Perhaps you know where it is."

She shook her head no, "I don't."

Barricade growled and then said, "No matter, we'll find it. But now that you are awake, you'll be doing me some favors."

Elizabetta swallowed hard, "What…sort of favors?"

He grabbed her roughly in his hand and then moved her so that she was dangling over Bonecrusher's spark, "Bring them back to life."

She squirmed in his hand, "What if I don't want to?"

"You don't have a choice."

"You have nothing against me to make me do it!"

The Decepticon narrowed his optics at her, "I know where your family lives, along with all of your friends…don't make me have to hurt them."

And suddenly Elizabetta found herself forced to answer the question she hoped she would never have had to answer…what would she choose…her family's welfare, or the welfare of the Autobots?

It wasn't fair…

The Autobots were so kind, so generous, how could she repay them by bringing back to life their enemies? Would they understand that she didn't want the rest of her family and friends to get hurt? She could so easily blame Ross for this, but now was not the time to be pointing fingers at anyone for anything…she had to figure he way out of this without bringing anyone back to life and without causing any harm to her family.

"But I…I don't know how," she whimpered helplessly.

He threw her onto the lifeless Decepticon harshly and Elizabetta could feel sharp metal scrape across her skin and bruises begin to form. "Well figure it out!" he barked before walking away to check on Blackout's progress and to help him out.

Elizabetta watched him walk away and then looked down at Bonecrusher's empty spark chamber, tears threatening to leak from her eyes. She couldn't betray the Autobots and bring them back…but she couldn't sacrifice her family either. A few tears managed to escape from her eyes and slid off her cheeks before she had the chance to wipe them away. They landed in Bonecrusher's spark chamber and Elizabetta watched them for a moment before they slipped down inside the cracks of his armor.

A blue, spherical light suddenly blossomed in his spark chamber and Elizabetta gasped as she quickly scrambled off of him. "No!" she shrieked. She had brought him back to life by pure accident.

Barricade looked over at her when she yelled and a wicked smile spread across his face when he saw the spark inside of Bonecrusher's chest. He walked back over to her and lifted her in his hand just as the previously fallen Decepticon's optics came online. He glanced around before asking, "Where…am I?"

"Back among the living," Barricade answered.

Bonecrusher sat up and looked to his fellow comrade, "What are you talking about?"

"You were dead," Barricade explained, "Optimus killed you, but you've been resurrected since your assistance is greatly required now."

"Where is Megatron? I need to tell him that I am grateful for this second chance at life—

"Megatron is dead."

Elizabetta watched as Bonecrusher's optics widened in disbelief. "But we had just found him!" the mech pleaded, "He had been missing for vorns…imprisoned by the humans on this mud ball of a planet! H-He can't be dead!"

"He is dead and was killed with no honor."

"No honor?!" this threw Bonecrusher for a loop, "How—

"He was slain by a human."

A roar erupted from Bonecrusher's throat, startling even Blackout who was working on locating Megatron's body. Elizabetta suddenly felt overwhelmed by the same sadness that had caused her to resurrect Jazz. Perhaps this was the effect of the Allspark…

The Allspark didn't favor either side, it did not care who used it and for what purpose it was used for. It couldn't stand the loss of life, Autobot or Decepticon, for no matter what, death affected everyone, Autobot and Decepticon alike. But now that the Allspark was merged within her, it had the ability to choose between what was right and what was wrong. But was there really a difference between the Autobots and the Decepticons? They both willingly killed, they both willingly used force, and they both would do whatever it took to win the war. But Elizabetta knew that the Autobots didn't kill unless they had a reason to and they simply wanted peace. The Decepticons however killed without reason and for selfish ambitions…no, no matter how awful their pain was, she couldn't help them any further.

But her family…

"That human there," Bonecrusher barked suddenly, snapping Elizabetta from her thoughts, "Was it her who killed Megatron?"

Barricade shook his head, "No…the Allspark was destroyed when Megatron was destroyed, however, one tiny fragment of the Allspark survived and reincarnated itself inside of her, that's how I was able to bring you back online, and I have every intention of using her to bring back Frenzy and Brawl as well, and once Megatron is found and his repairs complete, he will be brought back online as well."

A wicked grin spread across his face, "Then I will help Blackout locate our fallen leader." And he got up and walked over to Blackout.

Barricade chuckled lowly, "Just three more people Elizabetta."

There were only two other fallen Decepticons in the room…but Elizabetta knew who the last person he was talking about was.

* * *

Dawn was just breaking over the horizon when Ross heard the sirens of an emergency vehicle approaching in the distance. It was like a huge sigh of relief when he heard those familiar transforming noises and Ratchet was upon them immediately. Ross felt himself carefully removed from Bumblebee's driver seat and laid gently on the grass not too far away from the accident scene.

"Bumblebee, can you make it back to the base before I start repairs?" Ratchet asked.

Bumblebee made a pathetic sounding whining noise and then emitted the word, "Yes."

"Alright, Jazz help me hook him up to Optimus so that he can be towed back to the base."

"You got it," Jazz remarked as he transformed and slid down the embankment to where Bumblebee was.

Together, he and Ratchet lifted Bumblebee onto the road and hooked him to Optimus before any cars drove by seeing them. Ratchet then carefully placed Ross inside of Optimus' cab before he and Jazz got back on the road and transformed.

"W-Wait a minute," Optimus said, "Where's Elizabetta?"

* * *

Elizabetta was sobbing by the time Barricade threw her roughly back onto the table that she had woken up on. Her ribs ached and she had a sickening feeling that at least one of them was broken. Barricade had squeezed her so hard she thought she was going to die and he didn't stop until she agreed to resurrect Frenzy, Brawl…and Megatron.

Now Frenzy and Brawl were alive and Barricade was filling them in on what had happened and what their current plans were, but this time he was explaining in further detail and in Cybertronian, Bonecrusher listening from his position beside Blackout. Elizabetta felt strangely cold and curled up into a ball before rolling over on her side and attempting to draw as much comfort as she could from the cold metal. She jumped when suddenly Blackout shouted something in his native tongue and pointed at the computer screen. Elizabetta listened as everyone suddenly crowded around him. She closed her eyes and tried to die. She didn't need to know Cybertronian to understand what he had just said.

Megatron's body had been located.

* * *

Ross groaned when he heard that question come from the Autobot leader. He didn't want to be the one to break the news, but Bumblebee was far too impaired at the moment to answer the question. "The Decepticons got her," he moaned, "Bumblebee tried to catch the 'Con and get her back, but he tricked us and we went off the road…"

"Which Decepticon?" Optimus growled.

Ross wasn't sure if he had ever heard Optimus so angry before as he replied, "Some police car."

"Barricade," the Autobot leader scowled, "Jazz, Ratchet, hurry back to the Autobot base and see if you can possibly locate Elizabetta anywhere. I'll be back there soon."

"Yes sir," both Jazz and Ratchet replied in unison before taking off back towards the base.

Optimus decided to let Ross rest for now and further interrogate him when he was feeling better. Thus, he started his engine and took off towards the Autobot base.

Ross knew he had to think of a story and fast.

* * *

Hours had gone by before the Decepticons returned soaking wet but with Megatron's body. Frenzy had been left behind to monitor Elizabetta and make sure that she didn't go anywhere, but it was a simple task for him since he drugged her and she was asleep most of the time. When Megatron's body was brought in, it was carefully laid on an operation table and Barricade turned to Elizabetta. She didn't trust the look in his optics as she painfully sat up.

His hand seized her out of nowhere and she shrieked when he squeezed her tightly, causing some of her ribs to pop. "Repair him," he ordered.

Elizabetta felt a scream rip inside of her when she was suddenly thrown onto the Decepticon leader's body and saw his face for the first time…it was horrible, ugly, terrifying, disgusting, and contorted into a look of utmost pain. She gasped and attempted to climb off of his body, but Barricade stopped her and shouted, "I said repair him!"

Elizabetta cringed and heard a gun hiss suddenly. She looked over only to see Brawl had a gun pointed at her, activated and ready to blast her if she chose to disobey again. She swallowed hard and bit back the bitter agony of not wanting to die. She rose to her feet and numbly began to run her hands over the broken ligaments on the Decepticon leader's body. His limbs that had been ripped away were reattached perfectly and soon the only thing that was needed to completely repair him was a spark.

The girl swallowed hard as she hovered over his empty spark chamber…this was the last thing in the world she wanted to do. "Hurry up!" she heard Barricade's brusque voice shout behind her.

"_Forgive me Optimus,"_ she mentally sighed as she closed her eyes and let a tear fall into his empty spark chamber. She heard a hiss and then a click. After a couple of seconds she convinced herself to open her eyes.

Two crimson red optics stared back her.

* * *

Dun, dun, DUN! I will leave you with that cliffie and go back to school knowing that you are all hanging on the edge of your seats...okay that's very mean of me. I'll try to update sooner next time, but until then, pretty, pretty, pretty please review! Thanks! xD


	7. In Your Place

Yeah I suck at updating. Sorry. I won't bore you with an author's note. You may read.

* * *

**Chapter 7: In Your Place**

Ross was in complete agony by the time he was brought by Optimus into the med bay. Bumblebee opted to wait until Ross had been treated by Ratchet since his repairs wouldn't take long. He had been damaged, but more damage had been done to the tree than his titanium body. Ratchet took Ross carefully from Optimus and the Autobot leader then left the med bay. He had his own work to do, and that was trying to locate Elizabetta. He instructed his medical officer to notify him immediately when Ross was ready to talk about what had happened. Optimus wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling that whatever events had transpired that night between them and the Decepticons was entirely Ross' fault. And it was that feeling that made Optimus wish he had listened to Elizabetta's plea to get out of the date. She knew that the human male couldn't be trusted…but he had ignored the warning.

Now he and the rest of the Autobots were paying for it.

Once out of the med bay, Optimus turned and headed for the command center to see if Jazz had found anything. When he got there, he saw Ironhide had volunteered himself to the cause. The weapons expert was working busily with Jazz to see if they could somehow get a trace on the Decepticons. Optimus sighed heavily; he had a feeling that this was futile.

"What's the status?" he managed to bring himself to ask.

Both Ironhide and Jazz looked to their leader before Jazz answered, "We're trying our best boss. We're following the highway we found them on and we're currently tracing it for any signs of the Decepticons or Elizabetta."

"We'll know more when Ross tells us what happened," Ironhide stated, "Does Bumblebee know?"

Optimus shook his head, "I doubt it. I have a feeling it was all that punk's fault."

"Permission to terminate him sir if it is?" Ironhide asked almost too happily.

Optimus shook his head, "No Ironhide. We'll just drop him back off where we found him. If he is causing trouble, he has no use to us."

Ironhide simply nodded, disappointed, but what Optimus said was law. He then got back to work and continued helping Jazz try to find Elizabetta.

* * *

_Horrifying fear._ The twisted metal of Megatron's dead body was repaired; it was still twisted, but now in an organized fashion. Elizabetta was numb and hardly aware that her hands were shaking violently, as if they were having seizures. She couldn't hear herself breathing, she couldn't feel herself breathing…this was all just a nightmare. _"Oh God,"_ she breathed wishing desperately that someone would wake her up, _"Oh God!"_

The monstrosity known as the leader of the Decepticons was alive, and Elizabetta felt sick to her stomach knowing she was the reason that he was alive. There was absolutely no turning back now. She had done everything for the sake of the Decepticons…they had to let her go home. She couldn't be a part of this anymore. She didn't want to be the reason why her planet was destroyed…she didn't want to take the blame.

"A human?" Megatron exclaimed bitterly. He seized Elizabetta in one of his hands and squeezed her hard before sitting up and looking around the room, "Who brought this abomination into our base?"

Barricade stepped forward and bowed before his leader, "Forgive me sir, but if I may explain..."

"Yes soldier?" the Decepticon leader hissed.

"When you were dishonorably murdered by the boy, the Allspark was destroyed too, all but one fragment however. Nevertheless, this human you have now stumbled upon, the Allspark fragment managed to rebirth within her, giving her the ability to bring life to our race…she was the one who restored you," Barricade explained.

"As wonderful as that is…" Megatron said calmly then erupted, "I don't want her!" And he threw her down onto the recharge berth.

Elizabetta felt herself land on her elbows and roll a couple of times before she abruptly came to a stop. She looked up to see Barricade had stopped her roll and Megatron was staring at his subordinate with a look on his face which suggested Barricade had just challenged his leader's authority.

"Forgive me sir," the mech dared to speak, "But until we can find a means of extracting the power of the Allspark from her, she has to stay alive."

Megatron growled, "Humans are despicable! A human was the reason for my demise…a human shall not be the reason for the prolonged existence of the Decepticons!"

Blackout sighed heavily, "I'm afraid we have no other choice for now sir."

Megatron let one last growl pass his lips before he mumbled, "I am not going to like this. Where is Starscream?"

The troops seemed leery to say and finally Barricade answered, "Serving our master, in your place."

Elizabetta was highly confused as Megatron let a roar escape his throat. He got up from the recharge berth and headed for the exit. "Someone keep an optic on her, I have a problem to take care of," and she watched as the Decepticon leader exited the base.

All at once, Elizabetta was consumed in an overwhelming dread that something terrible was going to happen upon Megatron's arrival back to Earth, and she didn't want to know what. She only had a terrible feeling that it would involve her. She didn't want to be responsible for the destruction of planet Earth. She didn't want to be responsible for the destruction of the universe. She didn't want to be responsible for the victory of the Decepticons. She had to get back to the Autobots and soon. Elizabetta knew she had to make them aware of what the Decepticons were up to, of what Ross had done, of this Decepticon master…

"Barricade," Blackout's voice called from across the room, "We'll leave Brawl and Bonecrusher in charge of the human. Let's appease our commander and try and find a way to extract the power of the Allspark from that human back into something similar to the cube."

Barricade nodded, "Alright. Let's go."

Elizabetta watched as the two Decepticons left the room, Frenzy following them, cursing in Cybertronian. Brawl and Bonecrusher then moved next to the recharge berth that she was on. "I believe a cage will suffice for now," Brawl lulled, "That way we don't have to waste our talents guarding a human."

"Don't you think that is unwise Brawl?" Bonecrusher asked, "The Allspark does live within her."

"Allspark or not, she's still human. Her only powers are to grant life to us…or death. She's still capable of being destroyed."

Bonecrusher shook his head, "It's highly possible that since the Allspark has merged with her heart and DNA that she has superhuman characteristics and studies will have to be performed to see what she is and is not capable of."

There was a laugh and a figure suddenly emerged from the shadows of the bunker they were currently inside. "Scorponok…" Brawl hissed, "Where did you come from?"

"Barricade and Blackout have been attempting to locate me. They sent out transmissions inquiring my location and they also gave out this location, but since my comlink was damaged along with my tracking systems because of a skirmish with the human military, I was unable to respond," Scorponok explained, "Now…perhaps I might be of assistance when it comes to performing a few studies on this new human friend of ours."

Bonecrusher and Brawl looked at him skeptically. "Just what would you be able to do?" Bonecrusher inquired.

"I was a scientist before the war," the scorpion stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "There's a lot of tests that I am certified and able to do. And from my previous scans of this base, we have the equipment to do so."

Elizabetta then watched as three pairs of optics then fell upon her. She took a cautious step back. "Can't this wait?" she tried to plead, "I just brought you guys back to life, along with Megatron."

"There's one thing you'll learn quickly around here, and that is Decepticons don't like to be kept waiting, no matter the conditions or circumstances," Brawl elucidated, "And just because you have the Allspark inside of you doesn't mean we have to like you."

"After all," Bonecrusher stated reaching for her, "When we don't need you anymore, one quick squeeze and you'll be done with."

Elizabetta saw his hand coming and attempted to dodge it, only to fall into the grasp of his other hand. She attempted to break herself free from the Decepticon's empowering grip, but she was unable to and she knew that she wasn't going to like what was coming.

* * *

"Master," Megatron exclaimed as he transformed into his robot form and landed on his knees before two glowing red optics, "I have failed you on Earth."

"Starscream has already informed me," the shadow answered, "But I sense the Allspark is still in existence, even though for a brief time period it wasn't."

"It still is…" Megatron mused.

"How?"

"Apparently it managed to rebirth inside of a human female. She is the reason I am back online. Barricade and Blackout managed to obtain her and resurrect my killed warriors."

"Is she still in your possession?"

"Yes master."

"I sensed you coming my apprentice, and I was prepared to tell you that the Allspark was merely a pawn in this war. We don't need it…but it is definitely useful."

"Why don't we need it sir?"

"We are capable of producing enough energy from another source on Earth, but we won't use it unless the Allspark is destroyed again or falls into the hands of the Autobots. We don't have any more time to waste. Your absence was a major delay to my plans."

"Forgive me master."

"You may go, but bring the female here soon. I wish to meet her…"

"As you wish," Megatron remarked and stood. He turned to leave, but the shadow stopped him.

"Take Starscream with you. I cannot put up with the sniveling nuisance any longer. You may punish him as you please when you have returned to Earth."

Megatron smirked, "Gladly master. Starscream, let's go."

A disappointed Starscream emerged from behind the shadow and transformed into his jet mode before emitting a sulking, "Yes sir."

And he and Megatron headed back towards Earth.

* * *

Elizabetta wasn't sure what time it was when she woke up, but all she could process was that Scorponok had sedated her the minute Bonecrusher had handed her over to him. She had no idea of knowing what the Decepticon had done to her, what kind of tests he had run, and what the results were. She only knew that she had a mild, dull headache. One that she hoped would go away soon. Her vision was slightly foggy, but once it cleared, she nearly jumped out of her skin when she realized who was looming above her.

"Megatron," she gasped.

He smirked threateningly, "You're finally awake my dear. I've been waiting for a little while."

"What do you…what do you want?" she asked nervously.

"I need you to repair a couple of my men first, Scorponok you were probably already aware that he needs repairs. But Starscream does as well now, now that he has realized he is under my command again."

Elizabetta swallowed hard not really wanting to imagine just what Megatron had done to punish Starscream. She sat up and said, "Alright I'll do that now since I know you guys don't like to be kept waiting."

Megatron nodded, grinning, "Good human. But before I allow them to come in, I will let you know that you will be going with me to Cybertron tomorrow."

"For what?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," he remarked before turning and leaving the room.

"Well fine then," Elizabetta huffed as the doors hissed open and Scorponok entered the room dragging an unconscious Starscream behind him.

Scorponok tossed Starscream onto a recharge berth before looking to Elizabetta. He walked over to her and picked her up before lying down on the recharge berth she had been on and setting her beside him. She hesitantly climbed on top of him and slowly ran her hands down his body, which caused various wires and broken pieces of armor to be healed. It didn't take long before he was fully repaired and he got up and set Elizabetta next to Starscream.

He started to walk away when Elizabetta stopped him and asked, "Can you tell me the results of the tests you did on me?"

He laughed, "Do you think I'm that stupid?" And without waiting for anymore questions from her, he left the room.

Elizabetta growled and kicked Starscream before climbing up his torso and commencing with his repairs. His took a little longer than Scorponok's, but when she was done, Elizabetta had calmed down. She didn't notice Starscream's optics softly glowing red as she sat down on his chest and sighed heavily. "You know Starscream, even though I hate to say this, we're both kind of alike…" she paused before continuing, "We both don't like Megatron, we both want to get out of here, and we both want to do our own thing. The only problem is, we don't know how. And it sucks."

"Yes but there is a lot of differences between us too."

Elizabetta jumped when she heard his voice. She stood and looked at him while stammering, "I…I didn't know you were awake."

Starscream ignored her comment and said, "You must be the human that the Allspark took up refuge in."

"If you want to put it that way…"

"We've met before. At that Area 51 place."

"Oh yeah. Funny, you don't seem as scary now."

"No, not that I've realized who you are…and that you are…respectable."

"I wish other transformers would view it that way."

Starscream smirked, he knew exactly how to do away with Megatron and claim his title as leader of the Decepticons. He would befriend the human, despite how much the thought of doing that disgusted him. He could win; after all, the human was in need of friends. Why not one Decepticon one? And once he had her on his side, nothing could stop him.

"Let me properly introduce myself, I am Starscream, second in command of the Decepticons."

"Elizabetta, as long as you don't hurt me, I guess I am pleased to meet you."

"You can trust me Elizabetta, I will not hurt you. You are very valuable to my race and faction. I will try to reason with Megatron for you. I can't guarantee anything, but I will protect you. You have my word."

"Alright…thanks…"

Starscream nodded, "You're welcome. Now I must get going before Megatron starts to wonder where I am. I will see you later Elizabetta." He set Elizabetta on the recharge berth before he got up and left the room.

Elizabetta sighed heavily, she didn't know if she could out right believe Starscream's word. After all, he was partly the reason she was in this mess. She sat down heavily, as if her body weighed five tons. She could only wonder what the Autobots were up to.

* * *

Optimus was headed down the hall towards the med bay. He had stayed with Jazz and Ironhide while they attempted to find any trace of Elizabetta, but so far they hadn't gotten anywhere. The Autobot leader had received notification from Ratchet that Ross was ready to talk. Optimus had a gut feeling that Ross knew a lot more than what he was originally saying and he only hoped that the human would be truthful, regardless of the consequences.

He arrived at the med bay and he walked inside, both Ratchet and Ross were waiting for him. Ross looked apprehensive, but Ratchet moved to give them their privacy. Optimus walked over to the recharge berth that Ross was sitting on and shot him an accusing look, "What happened last night?"

Ross swallowed hard, not liking Optimus' tone. "Bumblebee stopped at a rest area because I had to go to the bathroom. Well, after I went, I decided to look around a little bit, but I guess I was taking too long since Elizabetta found me wondering what I was doing. So…I convinced her to look around the place with me since we were on a date after all. Well we went around behind the building where there was an empty parking lot, except there was one car there, and it turned out to be Barricade."

Optimus was still skeptical, but the story sounded convincing. He really wanted to ask Bumblebee, but he knew that the bot didn't know what had happened. It was all so frustrating…

* * *

Elizabetta laid back on the recharge berth, wondering exactly what the results were that Scorponok had gotten. She knew she had no way of knowing, unless it were somehow possible to get Scorponok drunk and get the information out of him that way. She sighed, knowing that was useless.

"_Optimus, if you can hear me,"_ she pleaded in her thoughts, _"Everything was Ross' fault. Megatron, Scorponok, Brawl, Bonecrusher, and Frenzy are back. Starscream is back amongst Megatron's ranks and Barricade and Blackout are still helping too. Megatron is going to try and take me to Cybertron tomorrow so I can meet his master most likely, but I didn't know he had one. I don't want to go…get me out of here please. Barricade drove along the highway until he reached Swackhammer Road and turned onto it. I don't know what happened after that, but I just want to get out of here…come for me…please…"_

"_**Hang on Elizabetta. We're coming."**_

_**

* * *

**_

And so ends this chapter. I apologize for the wait. Thanks to everyone who's been reading and reviewing, I appreciate it. Keep up the good work!


	8. A Tale of Two Allsparks

Augh my back hurts...but now that I've griped I'll get on with it. Thankies so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing! Here is the next chapter for you guys! I hope you enjoy it.

* * *

**Chapter 8: A Tale of Two Allsparks**

Frenzy was ready to bang heads together, rewire CPUs, and allow Barricade and Blackout to short circuit themselves into oblivion. He wasn't a very patient mech, he never had been, and watching as Blackout and Barricade worked fruitlessly to find a way to harness the power of the Allspark from the human nearly sickened him. Especially since he already knew how to do it…so he got to work on building a machine while Barricade and Blackout attempted to find a way to extract the power.

There was no use in coming up with a new way when someone else had already done the dirty work for him. Frenzy cursed in Cybertronian as he recalled the plans and schematics of the machine Agent Simmons and the rest of Sector Seven had developed to absorb the radiation of the Allspark. All their machine needed was a couple of modifications, but those modifications would allow the absorption process to take place much faster. Sector Seven's machine was capable of absorbing small amounts of power from the Allspark at a single time and funneling into a specific object.

As he looked around the base, he gathered all the parts and components he would need to build the machine, and once he had them all, he brought them back to the research area where Barricade and Blackout were still working futilely. He grumbled at them and began assembling the components he had collected, hoping that the two bumbling mechs would notice him and ask him what he was doing.

It took him a couple hours, but when Frenzy was almost done putting the machine together, he glanced over to Barricade and Blackout who were almost at each other's throats. He chuckled and loudly assembled the last component of his Allspark power sucking machine. And finally, the two mechs looked over at him, highly annoyed.

"What is that pile of scrap Frenzy?" Barricade inquired, irritated.

"**Bastard, you should've noticed earlier,"**Frenzy replied in his native tongue, not bothering to look at his partner.

Barricade narrowed his optics at him, his temper short, "Well get it out of here before I smash it along with your mainframe."

"**Try it. While you two shit heads were working on **_**finding**_** something to extract the power of the Allspark, I built a machine that will. All we…all **_**I **_**need to do is find something capable of containing the power of the Allspark within it."**

"And how in the pit do you know that pile of scrap you call a _machine_ will work?" Blackout demanded.

"**When we first found Lord Megatron here on Earth in the Hoover Dam, the organization that had him called Sector Seven, had a machine that could absorb small amounts of energy from the Allspark so they could create things for their own purpose," **Frenzy explained, **"So I took that technology and modified it so it will absorb large amounts of energy from the Allspark at a single time."**

"Dirt bag, why didn't you tell us earlier that you knew how to do this?"

"**You faggots didn't ask."**

Barricade and Blackout exchanged glances before Barricade said, "Whatever, let's just find something that can hold the Allspark's energy…and after what happened with Megatron, obviously no transformer can."

"And Megatron will not approve of a human…perhaps another cube?"

"The Allspark was created by Primes…we are not capable of producing another."

"Perhaps we should talk to Megatron…our master may know."

Blackout nodded, "I'll retrieve him." And he left the room.

* * *

Megatron was a little surprised to see Blackout enter the throne room unannounced, but he dismissed it and watched as his subordinate bowed before him and said, "Sir, Barricade, Frenzy, and I figured out a way to extract the power of the Allspark from the human."

The Decepticon leader beamed, "That's excellent news soldier."

"The only thing is we're not sure where the Allspark's energy should be channeled to."

Megatron sighed heavily as he thought back to what his master had told him about the Allspark. He was well aware that the Allspark's energy could not be contained within a transformer…he had only found that out the hard way. It was capable of existing within a human since they weren't mechanical…since they were innocent and separate beings from the civil war on Cybertron. The original cube had been created by the ancient Primes.

"Create another cube from the strongest earthly metal."

"What happens if it doesn't work?"

"Why wouldn't it?"

Blackout wasn't sure what to say and Megatron saw his doubt. He made as if he rolled his optics, "The Allspark has those symbols on them, they must be on the human too. After you create the cube, carve those symbols onto it."

"Yes sir," he stated as he got up to leave.

"Let me know when you are finished."

"As you command sir," Blackout remarked and then he left the room. He went back to the research room where both Barricade and Frenzy were waiting impatiently.

"Well?" Barricade asked.

"Megatron says to build another cube out of the strongest earthly metal and then carve the Allspark symbols onto it before we transfer the power," Blackout responded.

"And he's sure that will work?"

"I guess so."

"Well, let's get to work then."

Since Blackout could cover more ground faster than Barricade, and since he was designed for transporting things, he left the base and set out for a one of earth's strongest metals. Barricade was doing research back at the base and soon narrowed the metals down to three: titanium, beryllium, and tungsten. After some debate though, he radioed Blackout and told him to start searching for tungsten in its most pure form. Blackout agreed and after a couple hours, he returned back to the base with as much as he could find. It was enough to create another cube though.

Construction of the cube was nearly effortless; they melted the metal down and molded it into a cube shape. Before it cooled though, they needed to get the symbols of the Allspark carved onto it.

"I'll go get the human," Barricade stated figuring that Blackout had run enough errands for one day, "I'll be right back."

* * *

Elizabetta had just woke up, but she didn't even have the chance to open her eyes when she felt a cold, metal hand clasp around her and roughly lift her up. "What the hell," she mumbled tiredly as she opened her eyes and saw Barricade, "What's going on?"

"You'll find out my dear."

"Somehow I don't like the sounds of that," she stated.

He chuckled darkly as he left the room with her. As they walked, Elizabetta rubbed the remaining sleep out of her eyes. She knew she had to be her most alert whenever she had to deal with the Decepticons face to face. As she started to wake up though, a thought entered her mind about Optimus.

She thought she had heard him speak to her last night in her mind…but she wasn't sure if that was a dream or not. But considering she had heard him a few hours ago and he wasn't here, she figured it was a dream. Elizabetta sighed heavily, no matter how high her hopes were that she would get out of here in one piece, she had a feeling that it wasn't going to happen. There was an overwhelming dread, fear, anxiety that the Decepticons were going to do something to her, besides force her to recreate their race.

She felt like they were going to kill her…and soon.

* * *

Optimus wasn't sure if he had heard Elizabetta for real or not, but he figured there was a way to test his theory. She had mentioned Barricade turning onto a Swackhammer Road...he looked to the monitor where Ironhide and Jazz had worked feverishly through the night trying to find a signal, but just absolutely couldn't. "Jazz," the Autobot leader spoke, "Along the highway anywhere, was there a Swackhammer Road that you located?"

"Yeah," Jazz responded as he pinpointed the location where the Swackhammer Road connected to the highway.

"Trace along there, see if you can find anything."

"Yes sir."

Ironhide looked at his leader confused, "I don't mean to question your orders sir, but why there?"

"Trust me Ironhide," Optimus stated, not sure whether or not he should tell Ironhide he thought he heard Elizabetta speak in his mind.

"Sir! I am picking up traces of Decepticon activity in this area," Jazz exclaimed excitedly as he pointed to a red dot on the monitor that was near the Swackhammer Road.

"Let's go," Optimus stated.

"Yes sir!" both Ironhide and Jazz stated as they headed for the exit of the base.

"Optimus Prime to Ratchet and Bumblebee, the Decepticons have been detected. Report to the exit of the base immediately, Ross will have to be left alone for a little while. We're going to pay the Decepticons a visit. Optimus out," he spoke into his comlink before he ended the transmission and headed to the exit of the base, where the rest of his men were waiting for him.

"Autobots!" he commanded as the base doors opened, "Transform and roll out!"

* * *

When they arrived at the research room, Elizabetta immediately saw the machine and she swallowed hard. She didn't dare ask what it was because she didn't want to know. Barricade glanced at her before he set her on a table next to Frenzy. She looked at him awkwardly and he pounced on her, startling her.

"Get off of me!" she yelled as felt him pull at her shirt, "What are you doing?"

He swore at her in Cybertronian when she kicked him off of her and he ran and jumped on her, knocking her over. Using his sharp fingers, he ripped her shirt off of her. Immediately Elizabetta hugged herself, cold, and she didn't really want the mechs in the room to see her with no shirt and just a bra. She stopped struggling as Frenzy scanned the symbols on her arms and back. Once he had them, he went over to the newly created cube and proceeded to precisely carve the symbols onto it. Once he finished, they placed it into a thing of water so that it could finish cooling completely. They then extracted it and dried it off.

"It looks just like the old Allspark," Barricade remarked as he looked it over.

Elizabetta didn't know whether or not to feel relieved. She was shirtless, cold, and at the mercy of the three transformers in the room. She only hoped that they were creating a decoy of the Allspark…she wasn't sure what else they could do with it, but the machine next to her was telling her something otherwise.

"Shall we begin?" Blackout asked.

"The sooner the better," Barricade remarked, "Frenzy, secure the human."

Elizabetta felt frozen. Frenzy started back towards her, but she backed away from him. He then ran and pounced on her again, but this time she wrestled him, not wanting to be put at their mercy. "I don't know what you're planning," she grunted as she wriggled free from the Decepticon, "But I certainly don't want to be a part of it."

"Too bad," Blackout remarked as he lifted her in his hand and set her down on a cold metal table.

Elizabetta cringed at the coldness and couldn't struggle when Frenzy came over and restrained her to the table tightly, so tightly that she could hardly move. She heard Barricade positioning the cube at the other end of the machine and she didn't have to wonder what they were doing anymore. They were extracting the power of the Allspark from her and putting it in that cube.

They were going to kill her in the process.

Tears formed in her eyes. _"No!"_ she thought, _"They can't do this to me…they killed Sadie…I don't want to die too! I'm not ready!"_ She barely felt it as Frenzy attached a few wires to her skull. Elizabetta closed her eyes.

"Is everything ready?" Barricade questioned.

Blackout quickly double checked everything and then he replied, "Yes, let's get this over with…Frenzy."

Frenzy pressed a couple buttons and everyone listened as the machine activated. Elizabetta prepared herself for the worst…and then it came. She bit her lip so hard she thought she was going to bite right through it. It felt like the machine was trying to suck her brain right out of her skull, but it wasn't, she knew it wasn't. She felt herself growing weaker and she knew the energy from the Allspark was being stolen from her. _"Make it stop,"_ she pleaded mentally, _"Please someone make it stop."_

But it lasted. The knives were still digging into her skull. The tendrils were still crawling through her veins. The pain was still erupting through her body and heart. She felt all her energy leaving her…the pain was so unbearable she was almost ready to die at this point. _"I don't care what you take now so long as you stop,"_ she screamed in her mind, _"Just don't take my soul…"_

And vaguely she heard the sound of metal tearing open and dust suddenly filled the room. With the last bit of her energy she looked up, only to see Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots had burst through the ceiling and into the room.

"_Oh thank God,"_ she thought as she surrendered to darkness.

"Optimus Prime," Barricade snarled, "I'm afraid you arrived too late."

Optimus didn't bother to reply as he immediately charged at Barricade and delivered him a right hook that sent the Decepticon straight to the floor. He then looked to Blackout who was busy dealing with the rest of the Autobots. He then glanced over to where Elizabetta was and saw Frenzy frantically working at the machine, trying to make whatever they were doing go faster. He started walking over towards the tiny Decepticon, and Frenzy quickly grabbed the cube and ran out of the room, abandoning Elizabetta.

Optimus reached her immediately and just as he was about to grab her, something shot him in the back. He turned only to see Barricade had gotten back up. Optimus was just about to return fire when Bumblebee came out of nowhere and tackled Barricade to the ground, allowing the Autobot leader to resume of his task of freeing Elizabetta from the machine. Carefully, he plucked the wires from her head and gently lifted her.

"Autobots," he commanded, "Let's go."

Once they made sure none of the Decepticons would follow them, they left the base and quickly transformed and headed back to their base. Optimus had Elizabetta in him and was relaying her condition back to Ratchet. Ratchet, however, couldn't do anything until they got back to the base.

* * *

Everything was blurry when she opened her eyes. She blinked a couple times, but the fog only cleared a little bit, enough so that she could tell she was inside of Optimus' cab. "Op-Optimus?" she asked weakly.

"Elizabetta," he remarked, "Are you alright?"

Hearing his voice made her smile, but she answered honestly, "I don't think so."

"I'm so sorry," he breathed, "We would've come sooner if we could've."

"I don't care…you still came," she shivered, "I'm…I'm c-c-cold."

Optimus turned up the heat a bit in the cab, "When we get back to the base we'll find you a shirt."

"Okay…and thanks for rescuing me."

"It was the least we could do Elizabetta."

She smiled and he noticed, and he felt himself smiling. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing," she remarked tiredly, "I just like it when you say my name."

Optimus' smiled broadened and he listened as she fell back to sleep. With his entire spark he hoped she was alright, that she would be alright. _"Just hold on a little longer Elizabetta, we're almost home."_

_

* * *

_

Megatron was highly annoyed when Barricade, Blackout, and Frenzy came limping into the throne room, holding the Cube. He glanced at them and saw how beat up they were. "What happened?" he asked.

Barricade, Blackout, and Frenzy exchanged glances before Barricade finally spoke, "We were…interrupted."

"Interrupted?" Megatron questioned, "By what?"

"The…Autobots."

"What happened?" he growled, already not liking the sounds of this.

"We were in the process of extracting the Allspark's energy from the human and into the Cube when the Autobots broke in. They got the human, but we didn't let them get the Cube."

"That Cube better not be worthless. How close were you to being done?"

Barricade and Blackout looked to Frenzy who said, **"Very close. The Cube should perform just as well as the first, but the girl may be able to retain some of the abilities as the Allspark."**

Megatron frowned, "You mean to tell me that essentially the Autobots have an Allspark too."

Frenzy hesitated, **"Yes…"**

The Decepticon leader growled, "All of you, get out of my sight and go clean up the mess that the Autobots obviously created!"

They quickly got up and left the throne room, but they left the Cube behind. Megatron tapped his fingers angrily against the arm of his throne. He would take it to The Fallen and see what he thought of it…and to see what they would do from here.

He was curious to know what that other power source was…

* * *

Optimus waited anxiously outside the med bay as Ratchet treated Elizabetta. He wasn't sure how many hours had gone by since they had gotten back, but he was beginning to think the worst was happening since it was taking so long. Before Elizabetta had gone in the med bay, Bumblebee had taken Ross somewhere else so that they didn't have to worry about a conflict between him and Elizabetta.

Optimus didn't know how much more waiting he could take…

And just when he thought he had reached his wits end, Ratchet stepped outside of the med bay. Optimus looked to him and asked, "Well?"

Ratchet sighed heavily, "I don't know what to tell you…apparently the Decepticons tried to extract the power of the Allspark from her and concentrate it into a cube they had made…and for the most part they were successful…but they almost killed Elizabetta in the process."

"Will she be alright?"

"It's hard to tell right now. She needs to get a lot of rest; her energy levels are very low right now."

"Is she alright in the med bay for a little while?"

Ratchet smiled softly, "She wants to sleep in her own bed. She said she wants her own pajamas and blankets. Since she doesn't have any physical injuries, I told her that she could stay in her room only if someone stayed the night with her to make sure she was alright."

"I'll do it."

"Sir?"

"I'll take her back to her room and watch over her tonight."

"But sir, you didn't get any recharge last night…"

"I'll manage."

"If you say so sir…I'll go get her," he said as he went back inside the med bay. He came back out a few moments later with a sleeping Elizabetta in hand.

Optimus carefully took her, thanked Ratchet, and headed for Elizabetta's room. When he got there, he went inside and carefully laid her on her bed and covered her up.

"Optimus," she breathed.

"Yes Elizabetta?"

"Are you staying here?"

"Yes."

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"I don't need to."

"Yes you do."

"Just go back to sleep," he said as he sat down on the floor since there wasn't anywhere else for him to sit.

She watched him before she closed her eyes and quickly fell back to sleep. Optimus sighed heavily, he was pretty tired, but he had a duty to watch Elizabetta.

* * *

Optimus heard something rattling. He brought his optics online, ashamed that he had accidentally slipped into a recharge while watching Elizabetta. Sighing, he looked at her only to see she was shivering. He glanced around, not sure where she kept her other blankets…

Not knowing what else to do, he activated his holoform and crawled into the bed beside her. He covered himself up and pulled Elizabetta close to him, hoping that he wouldn't wake her up. He sighed and laid his head on the pillow, deciding it was alright if he got some sleep as well.

"Thank you Optimus…" she breathed, snuggling closer to him.

He smiled, closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep himself.

* * *

And so ends this chapter. Please review!


	9. Knight in Shining Armor

This chapter isn't as long as previous ones, but there was only so much I could squeeze out of my under-worked and lazy brain. I hope you enjoy it and I apologize for not updating sooner.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Knight in Shining Armor**

She wasn't going to get up, not for anything in the world.

Elizabetta woke up the next morning too hot. Optimus was still sound asleep next to her. She figured he hadn't gotten much sleep the last few days while she was staying with the Decepticons. And she wouldn't guess that he had lost sleep because he was worried. She doubted he really cared about her personal welfare. Instead she figured that he only cared about her based on the powerful impact she had on his team. Elizabetta, more than anything, would have loved to keep her normal life, the normal life she was forced to leave behind all because of Ross.

Forever she would scorn his name. It was like a bitter taste in her mouth and no matter what she drank, there was still an acidic after taste left behind. He alone, one _tiny _insignificant lowlife of a man had figured out a way to curse her for the rest of her life all in a matter of hours. He had caused the death of one of her close friends. And then he thought it would be okay to try and date her. And then he thought it would be a better idea to turn her over to the Decepticons in order to save his precious hide. Elizabetta could feel the anger boiling through her veins towards him; she knew he had made up a story to save himself once again from the Autobots wrath, and it was only a matter of time before Ross' lies were foiled and she could kill him.

Maybe she would get up just for that reason.

Groaning, Elizabetta rolled over carefully in an effort not to wake up Optimus. It surprised her that it had taken most of her strength to do that, and she only felt her anger and frustration increase because of that. She sighed and attempted to sit up. She looked down as she did so and caught a glimpse of Optimus' sleeping face, causing her to suddenly halt in her efforts to get out of the bed. _"Oh,"_ she thought, _"I didn't realize he was that cute."_

And almost as if on cue, Optimus' eyes flickered open and he gazed up at Elizabetta gazing down at him. The woman felt a blush suddenly burn onto her face and she quickly averted her stare away from him. He blinked, slightly confused as to why Elizabetta blushed and then asked, "Are you alright? Me being in the same bed as you isn't bothering you is it?"

"No-no…" she stammered, blush still in full effect, "And I'm okay."

"It probably wouldn't hurt you to get more rest; the Decepticons robbed you of a lot of your energy. It almost killed you."

She didn't really want to admit that she knew she had a fever or the fact that she still was really tired, but she didn't want to get up either…well, unless she got to kill Ross, then she would get up. "There are other things I need to get done, I can't sleep all day," she finally remarked.

"And what is it that you need to do?"

"…It involves Ross."

Optimus knew that he would hear the true side of the story if Elizabetta told it. And if Ross were lying, well, he would definitely let him be subject to Elizabetta's anger before he was dumped somewhere on the side of the road, left to fend for himself on his own. "If you plan on killing him, at least do it outside the base under our supervision, that way we don't have to worry about the Decepticons getting you, or about a rotting carcass on the base floor."

Elizabetta smiled faintly, knowing that Optimus could see through Ross' lies and that he wanted the truth from her because he couldn't get it from anybody else. "That sounds ideal," she replied, "What makes you think that I want to kill him?"

"I am only assuming that it was his fault that the Decepticons were able to kidnap you. I am correct in assuming that, right?"

"Yes, you are."

"And if I asked you why he did so, would you tell me?"

"If I knew the answer to that I would. What did he tell you?"

"That Bumblebee had stopped at a rest area because Ross had to go to the bathroom. He said he then got looking around a bit before you came and joined him and accidentally stumbled upon Barricade, is that true?"

"Not in the least. Yes we did stop at a rest area because Ross did have to go to the bathroom. I stayed with Bumblebee while he did so, but after ten minutes or so had gone by and he hadn't come back yet, I went off to look for him. It didn't take me long to find him, and when I did, he wasn't coming from the direction of the bathrooms either, but instead from behind the building where there was an empty parking lot. I could tell he was really unnerved as he tried wholeheartedly to convince me to let him show me something that he had found. I was stupid enough to fall for his lies and he led me straight to Barricade and let him take me."

"It almost sounds like he conspired with Barricade previously before he got you."

"I know he did because Barricade knew his name."

"Perhaps he was threatened and forced by Barricade to retrieve you, would you blame him then?"

"Yes I would blame him!" she remarked exasperated, "He could have returned to Bumblebee, he could have told the truth, Bumblebee could have outrun Barricade, Bumblebee could have called for backup. Ross could have done the right thing, rather than commit a huge series of wrongs. I don't know what you think, but he lied to me, he lied to you Optimus, he lied to the Autobots and betrayed all of us. I can't trust him ever again. He's best off dead…if we let him go, what happens if the Decepticons find him again?"

Optimus knew that Elizabetta had a point there. Ross had run out of second chances, but they couldn't let him go because the Decepticons could easily track him down. And since Ross was untrustworthy, what would stop him from giving away all of the Autobots secrets to the Decepticons…or even the humans if he weren't caught? But he couldn't kill Ross. He himself had said that freedom was the right of all sentient beings and he couldn't go back on that word. He couldn't hold Ross prisoner either then. But it was him who protected the freedom of all _peaceful_ sentient beings, and if Ross were a severe threat to the peace of the universe, then he could be eliminated. But how badly would it smear his reputation if he, the leader of the Autobots, were to kill a human?

"Ross will be dealt with as soon as possible," he remarked finally, "But that won't be until you're better because I am quite sure you'll want to let him have a piece of your mind."

"You've got that right."

"And what happens to him later has yet to be determined."

"…I still say he's better off dead."

"I can't help but agree with you Elizabetta, but go back to sleep. According to my scans, you're still very weak."

"I'm sick of that 'according to my scans' crap."

Optimus smiled, "I recommend that you best get used to it."

She pursed her lips to the side and fell silent. From time to time she gazed at him almost as if she were waiting for him to ask a certain question. Optimus knew he wasn't a mind reader, but when he saw a look of uncertainty cross Elizabetta's face, he couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"How much does it take you to get mad?"

"It depends on the situation…why?"

Elizabetta felt like cringing at the dreaded 'why' question, but found the strength to tell the truth when she knew that Optimus was swimming in an ocean of lies, "Would you be mad if I told you that I…I brought Megatron back to life, along with those Decepticons who had fallen in Mission City two years ago?"

Optimus sighed, not at all happy with the news, but he wouldn't blame Elizabetta. "I'm not happy, but if you hadn't been kidnapped in the first place it would have never happened. Don't blame yourself, I know you didn't want to bring them back online, but you didn't have a choice in the matter."

"Just because I didn't have a choice doesn't make me feel any better about it. I apologize profusely—

"It's not your fault Elizabetta. Things happen in life for a reason, whether we like them or not."

"Optimus…do you believe in destiny…or fate?"

"I used to…but that was a long time ago. I do believe I have a purpose and that I am carrying out my purpose, but I don't believe some other preordained force influences who I am and what kind of person I am as I go through this life."

"So you just believe that everything happens for a reason."

"Yes."

"That sounds a lot less complicated than destiny."

"Somewhat, because you're forever trying to figure out what that reason is. It gives life a sense of purpose."

"In a weird way…that makes sense."

"I know you still hate how you're in the position you're in now, but you're here for a reason, you just need to figure that reason out. It'll be a hard journey for you, but one that you have to undertake. The Allspark fragment chose you, even if you didn't want to choose it or accept it. You will have to figure out your purpose Elizabetta, and embrace it, because you'll be finding yourself."

"Have you figured out your purpose?"

"I would like to say so. My purpose is making the universe a safer place. I know I can't stop violence completely, as much as I would like to, but if I can at least bring peace to Cybertron again, I will be happy."

"That's a good purpose."

"Go back to sleep, I feel I've stretched your mind too much for one day already."

She smiled, "If you say so." Elizabetta closed her eyes and it was only moments before she returned to the blissful wonders of sleep.

* * *

Elizabetta wasn't sure how much time had passed while she slept when she opened her eyes again. However long it had been, it sure didn't feel long enough. She was kind of surprised that she felt weaker now than when she had first fallen asleep and woken up. She barely had the stamina to do anything as she limply slid her hand over on the bed to see if Optimus was still there.

A sudden wave of panic poured through her when she didn't feel him there. She rolled over and looked to where he had been when she had fallen asleep, but there was nobody there. The spot was cold and wrinkle free, as if there hadn't been anybody there at all. "Optimus?" she called out weakly, "Optimus where are you?"

Her eyes frantically searched the room, desperately trying to find the Autobot commander. Elizabetta sat up when she couldn't find him and slowly started to get out of the bed. She felt terrible, but she didn't want to be alone. She had been alone long enough at the Decepticon base and tortured and manipulated there, she didn't want to be alone so that her mind would eat her away. No, she wanted someone to keep her company, someone to help her now. She had a path to follow and she wanted guidance along the way.

A cold prick shot through Elizabetta's feet as she placed her feet onto the floor and carefully stood up. She knew that she didn't have a lot of energy, but she was going to go see where Optimus was. If she didn't find him, she only prayed that someone found her in case she passed out. Taking a deep breath, she took a few stumbling steps forward and made it to the door just as it opened. She collapsed through the open door against Optimus' familiar leg.

"I hate this," she sobbed frustrated and tiredly as she seemed to hold onto his leg for dear life, "I don't have the strength or energy to do anything!"

"Calm down Elizabetta, you just need to give yourself time to recuperate."

"How long have I been asleep?" she whimpered while staring at his metal leg.

"Three days—

"Three days?! And I'm still like this?!" she remarked shocked.

Optimus quickly went into his holoform and removed Elizabetta from his leg. Instead he held her tightly against him, wrapping his arms securely around her. "Elizabetta the Decepticons did a lot to torture you; they nearly killed you by draining the majority of your energy to create their own version of the Allspark. The extent of the damage you suffered is very bad, it's going to take you a while to recover, but you won't be like this forever."

"I don't want to stay like this," she exclaimed feebly, "I want to be able to walk around and move…I don't want to be a bedridden, helpless burden. I'm a fighter Optimus, not someone who is just going to sit around and take the shots and criticism. I can't be like _this_…I don't want to wait."

"That's all you can do Elizabetta…and the more rest you get the sooner you'll get better. If you're a fighter, which you claim you are, then you can find the strength to pull through this. You're going to be okay."

"Optimus," she moaned, "I don't even know what powers I still have anymore. The Decepticons…they took everything—everything I was, everything that I had yet to become. It's not fair, they raped me of my youth and my sanctity…I don't want them to win, if they do then the destruction of the universe is all my fault."

"Elizabetta you're hyperventilating, you either calm down right now or I am going to take you to Ratchet so he can sedate you."

"No…no I'm…I'm okay. Just don't do that."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes…just help me back over to the bed."

Optimus guided her back over to the bed and watched her as she covered herself up. She looked at him and he sat down on the edge of the bed. After a few moments, he asked softly, "What were you doing out of bed in the first place?"

"I…was going to go see if I could find you."

"Me?" he questioned surprised, "Why?"

"This may sound stupid, but I don't want to be alone. When I was with the Decepticons…I was on my own, it was me against them and I lost…" she explained but stopped as the memory of her experience with the enemy became too painful. She repeated softly, "I don't want to be alone."

"I understand, but why me?"

"I don't really know…you're the only one that has really gone out of the way to make sure I fit in and that I'm handling everything okay. I know you lost sleep over me while I was with the Decepticons. You've rescued me, more than once, and I know you volunteered to stay with me the other night when I didn't want to sleep in the med bay. Plus you're the only one that's given me the most encouragement. I suppose I owe you a thank you."

Optimus smiled softly, "You're welcome and before you ask, yes I will stay here with you."

She returned the smile as he laid down next to her and carefully wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close to him. She looked up at him and grinned deviously. "You took really good notes Optimus," she stated.

"What do you mean?" he asked confused.

"You know…when I was trying to get out of that date with Ross I described my perfect man to you."

"Ah yes," he smirked, "I remember. That was also when you left my office saying that you hated me."

"I didn't mean it," she stated quickly, "I was just frustrated is all."

"I should've listened to you. Next time I will."

"Let's just hope there isn't a next time."

"Agreed," he concurred.

"You know Optimus," she remarked as she began drifting back asleep.

"Hm?"

"With your blue eyes and your black hair…and considering how you've acted as my knight in shining armor multiple times…you really do sound like my dream guy. But you were also the one who said that a relationship would never work out between us. Night Optimus."

But Elizabetta fell asleep before the Autobot leader had a chance to reply.

* * *

Tis the end of this chapter. Let me know what you think. Until next time!


	10. Run

Yep, I know it's been awhile since I've updated anything or even looked at my stories, but I figure I must give you guys some sort of comfort that I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Run**

Optimus knew he couldn't let Elizabetta's words eat away at him, but he wanted to know what she meant. He didn't know if he deserved to know or not, he cared a lot about her and didn't want to be fed riddles.

"_With your blue eyes and your black hair…and considering how you've acted as my knight in shining armor multiple times…you really do sound like my dream guy. But you were also the one who said that a relationship would never work out between us…"_

Her words were plaguing him. Was she implying something? Did she like him? And if she did, did she only add that last remark to make it sound like she wasn't hopeful when she really was? His spark churned at the thoughts racing through his mind and he couldn't figure out why. As far as he was concerned, a relationship simply could not work out between them. Elizabetta was immortal, yes. But she was so much smaller than he was. He did have his holoform, but could they really make a relationship work when he couldn't love her in his actual body, but a fake?

"_I shouldn't be thinking like this,"_ he told himself. Now was not the time to be thinking about loving someone, devoting himself to someone…the Decepticons were at large again and there was no telling what they were up to this time. They had almost killed Elizabetta trying to extract her powers, there was no telling if their plan had worked or not and if Elizabetta had any powers left. The scans Ratchet performed indicated that the Allspark was still very much alive within her…but just what was she capable of doing with its power?

The Autobot leader sighed. No matter how much he didn't want to admit it, the war had started again. The universe was no longer safe. And as much as he yearned to protect Elizabetta, he didn't know if he could.

* * *

She was feeling better, but not one-hundred percent.

Elizabetta sighed from her seat on her bed as she flipped through television channels for what seemed to be the millionth time. She hated being reduced to bed rest while trying to recuperate the rest of her strength. Frustrated, Elizabetta turned off the television and set the remote aside. It had been over a week since the Autobots rescued her from the dark clutches of the Decepticons and she was still stuck sitting in bed. She couldn't walk very far before she became exhausted.

Her condition didn't really make sense to her either. Normally when she was drained of energy, a good night's sleep made her feel normal again. But this time…the energy simply wasn't coming back no matter how much sleep she got. Ratchet said it had to do with the Allspark losing energy; energy that does not replenish as quickly as hers does, but it still didn't make sense.

Elizabetta wanted nothing more than to get out of bed and just walk around without feeling tired or fainting. Several times she had gotten out of bed thinking she was okay to make it to the command center and find someone to talk to, but she had passed out along the way, either to be found by another Autobot or wake up and realize once again she didn't make it.

At least the Autobots cared enough to stop by and see how she was doing. Optimus stopped by the most and she felt the happiest when he came by. He filled her in on what was going on around the base, the latest Decepticon activity, which there usually wasn't anything to report. They had put Ross in a jail cell until they decided what to do with him. The Decepticons had vacated their base and stripped it clean, leaving absolutely no trace behind, so there was no telling where they were, which terrified Elizabetta.

And there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Instead, she was confined to her bed, wishing she could get up and move around. She had brought the Decepticons back to life and felt responsible to make sure they were deactivated for good this time, even if it had been against her will to bring them back to life.

She got up and decided to take a shower. Since the movements were slow, her body could handle her moving around her room as she gathered her clothes and went into her bathroom. Once inside, she stripped down until she was completely naked. For a moment, she stared at herself in the mirror, memorizing the curves, the outlines of her body that she had memorized countless times before.

Everything was still the same, she hadn't lost or gained weight, her skin was still soft, pale, smooth, pleasant to look at. Her hair fell below her shoulder blades in long, straight brown locks. Her nose was still small, still held the same curve at the tip, her brown eyes still twinkled back at her, her lips were still thin and rosy. She hugged herself, satisfied with the way she looked; she knew would look and feel better after her shower.

She turned the water on, and when it was warm enough, Elizabetta stepped into the shower and closed the curtain behind her. She stood under the shower head, letting the warm water cascade over her body, soaking her hair and scouring her skin. She reached out and grabbed the bar of soap she had in the shower and scrubbed her arms, her back, her torso, and her legs. When she was completely covered in a thick lather, she rinsed her body off and began massaging shampoo into her hair. She rinsed and put the conditioner in, before rinsing that out of her hair too.

"Elizabetta, can we talk?"

Elizabetta nearly jumped out of her skin. She quickly turned the water off and reached for a towel, which she tightly wrapped around herself and made sure she covered as much as her body as she could.

"Ross!" she exclaimed as she ripped back the shower curtain, "What the hell are you doing in here?"

He was standing, leaning against the sink, which was directly across from the shower. Elizabetta felt a blush burn onto her face. She never heard him come in, she had no idea how long he had been in the bathroom, she thought he was in prison, locked away until forever came and went.

"I wanted to talk," he answered, his eyes not leaving her body.

She felt uneasy as she watched him look her over. "I thought you were," she lowered her voice to just above a whisper, "I thought you were in prison."

"Yeah well I got out. I wanted to say I was sorry, I was hoping that you would come and visit me so that I could say I was sorry, so that I could explain myself for what happened the night the Decepticons took you."

"Save it," she hissed, "You can leave now."

"Elizabetta I really like you, a lot, I know I messed up—

"Ross, I said save it! Look, you're not helping your cause by sneaking into my room and coming into the bathroom while I'm taking a shower, you better just go."

"You're beautiful."

"You're creeping me out."

"No I mean it," he said as he took a step towards her, "You're really beautiful."

"Ross," she said uneasily, "Ross you need to leave."

"Listen to me baby," he remarked loudly, "I didn't break out of prison to be told to leave by you. Come with me, we can leave everybody here behind. The Autobots, the Decepticons, everybody…we can live normal lives again, I'll take you back to your friends, I'll take you home."

She knew she couldn't believe him. "Ross, nothing will ever be the same. I can't go home, I can't go back to my friends, I can't go with you. I have to stay here, with the Autobots, and help them stop the Decepticons."

"Liz, don't make me laugh, you're so small compared to them, you cannot stop them, you don't even know what powers you have anymore."

She hated being called Liz. "This is the last time I'm saying this Ross before I get one of the Autobots in here to get you out. I am not going anywhere with you, ever again, you need to leave my room and walk away from me, permanently."

He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. He didn't move. Elizabetta swallowed as she watched him tighten his jaw, his gaze on her unwavering. She prayed her feet wouldn't fail her and that exhaustion wouldn't overcome her as she leapt from the tub and ran out of the bathroom and out of her room.

But Ross was right behind her. "You can't outrun me!" he taunted.

She didn't dare look behind herself as she kept running. It wasn't long before she was panting. She tried to fight back the stars that were beginning to cloud her vision. The command center couldn't be as far away as it seemed…

"Optimus!" she screamed, "Somebody!"

If the situation were different, if she had her full strength, she would have stopped running and turned around and clocked Ross one, but she didn't have anywhere near enough energy to do that. She felt his fingertips graze across her shoulder and she pushed herself to run harder, despite the dizziness that was looming.

He pinned her to the wall just as Optimus came around the corner. "Shit!" Ross remarked and he let her go before he took off the other way.

"What's going on?" Optimus remarked as he quickly bent down and scooped Elizabetta up in his hand, "How did he get out or his cell?"

"I-I don't know," Elizabetta answered as she tried to catch her breath and let her nerves settle down, "He came into my room while I was showering and he wouldn't leave."

"What was he saying?"

Elizabetta explained everything Ross had said to her and everything she had said to him. And after she got done explaining, she felt a blush burn onto her face. "Sorry about the way I'm dressed," she apologized as she remembered she was only wearing a towel around her naked body.

"You don't need to apologize," he responded as he let his optics wander over her form a little longer than he knew he should, "I'll take you back to your room."

"Thanks," she said.

When they got back there, Optimus set Elizabetta on the ground and assumed his holoform. He followed her inside because neither of them knew if Ross had gone back there or not. He knew he would have to check later to see how Ross got out of his cell, but right now everything could wait, he was with Elizabetta.

She immediately went back to the bathroom and Optimus watched her as she shut the door. He didn't hear it lock, so he figured she trusted him enough to not come in. A few minutes later, Elizabetta came out with her clothes on, her hair brushed but still dripping wet. Optimus couldn't help but smile.

And she smiled back. "I think I'm getting better," she said.

"What makes you think that?"

"I was able to run all that distance without fainting. I mean, I'm tired now, but I'm still awake."

"Don't push yourself farther than what your body can handle right now; it will only make things worse."

"It wasn't exactly my choice to go for a run," Elizabetta remarked as she sat down on the couch in the living area of her room.

"I understand that, I'll see to it that you get a new room and that Ross is taken care of."

"That is, if you can find him. By now, he could be anywhere."

Optimus regretted not being able to pursue Ross, but he couldn't leave Elizabetta defenseless. There was no telling what would happen if he left her room, there was no telling what would have happened if he hadn't stumbled upon her and Ross in the hallway. He walked up to the couch and gestured to the empty seat beside her, "Do you mind if I take a seat?"

"Be my guest," she replied.

He sat down next to her and after a heavy sigh he said, "I'm very sorry for everything Ross has done to you."

"You don't need to apologize."

"Yet I see all the pain in your eyes and cannot help myself."

Elizabetta looked to her feet, a frown on her face. She felt tears prickle in her eyes like needles. "I feel greater comfort in knowing you understand that I'm in pain."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm afraid there's not much I can say that I haven't said before. I wish my friends and I never, ever went to that stupid museum. I knew from the get-go that Ross was nothing but bad news."

"It's over and done with; you need to forgive yourself for what happened."

"I know. You don't know how badly I wish to just go home, away from all this, away from everything that has ever happened here—

"Even me?"

Elizabetta stopped midsentence, her mouth agape as Optimus' words sunk into her skull. She looked at him confused. She didn't know if he was implying something, and if he was, she didn't know what. She searched for a deeper meaning, but the only deeper meaning she could find tugged at a boundary line so powerful, but yet she felt a flutter in her heart. "Optimus?" she asked.

"I'm sorry," he said quickly, "I didn't mean to say that…it just came out."

"If I know you correctly, usually you don't say things without reason."

"Well, this time was an exception."

She didn't believe him, and he knew that. He didn't believe himself. That question had come from his spark. And while they both knew that she couldn't leave, the thought of her leaving didn't settle very well with his spark.

"Do you feel safe here?" he asked, quickly changing the subject.

"When Ross isn't running around, I feel very safe."

"Would it be alright if I left you alone to find him?"

"That's perfectly fine, and if you do find him, make sure you step on him. If anyone asks, call it an accident."

Optimus smiled, "If you need anything, just holler."

"I will. Have a good afternoon."

"You too Elizabetta," he replied before deactivating his holoform and returning to his normal body, which was outside the door. He wanted to kick himself for just saying his question had just come out and he had no reason for saying it. Why couldn't he just tell her the truth instead of lying? He growled as he walked away.

* * *

He was home free.

Ross couldn't believe it, he had managed to get away from Optimus and the rest of the Autobots and get out of the base. It hadn't been easy, but at least he had done it. But now he had to find a place to go.

He had some friends in San Francisco that had always said he could come to them whenever he needed help. He memorized their address by heart too, just in case a circumstance arrived where he needed a place to go. He needed to get to a phone and get to a cab.

Ross walked a couple miles to the nearest road he could find. Whenever a car passed, he held out his thumb. It seemed like he had been doing this for hours, and nobody stopped. He wiped the sweat from his brow, just as he heard a car coming up from behind him.

He held out his thumb, not bothering to look at the car, knowing it probably wouldn't stop. But he heard as it slowed down and came to a stop beside him. He looked over, and he felt the air nearly get sucked out of his lungs.

He watched as the passenger's side window rolled down on the familiar police car. Inside was the same black haired, ominous looking police officer that he had met before, several nights ago. The officer smiled that same dark, sickly sweet smile.

"Need a lift?"

"Not from you," Ross replied as he kept walking, but the officer only drove along beside him.

"Well, I'm afraid you don't have a choice."

Ross didn't even realize what had hit him till he was on the ground and the officer was beside him, a taser in hand. He blinked between consciousness and sleep as he felt himself being lifted from the ground and thrown into the back of a car. He heard the door slam and everything went dark.

The only sound was the tires of the police car screaming against the pavement as they drove away.

* * *

The end, for now. I can't promise when I'll update again, but I do thank everybody for their patience and reading and reviewing this story. Until the next chappie...


	11. You Needn't Be Afraid

So, over the last couple weeks, I've practically reread every story I've ever written on this website, give or take a couple, and GOD has my writing changed drastically. I'm certainly not as witty as I used to be. Anyhow, here's the next installment of this story. I hope you enjoy it, I think you guys will.

* * *

**Chapter 11: You Needn't Be Afraid**

When he woke up, his vision was distorted. Ross had to blink a few times in order to bring the dark figure looming over him into focus, and when his vision cleared, he wished it hadn't. While he wasn't familiar with who the Decepticons were and what each one looked like, let alone their names, he knew it was a no brainer that whoever the silver mech was that was currently studying him was not good news. He swallowed hard and numbly asked, "Who…who are you?"

The Decepticon smirked, "I am Starscream, second in command of the Decepticons. And before you ask what happened, Barricade brought you here. He said you were involved with the Autobots."

"They imprisoned me and I escaped—

"That seems quite out of character for them," Starscream mused.

"I guess they considered me a traitor after Barricade forced me to hand Elizabetta over the last time, which resulted in the revival of the rest of the Decepticon army, if I have my information correct."

"You do," he remarked, "You did tell them you were forced into handing Elizabetta over, right?"

"Well…no, not exactly. I lied about it, and I guess I was causing a lot of problems for them and Elizabetta," Ross explained as he tried to take in his surroundings, "But anyways…what the hell do you guys want now?"

"If you're looking for an escape, you're not going to find one," Starscream stated, "But sadly, we Decepticons have a need for your help again."

"Are you trying to get me killed?"

"Well, if it's necessary, then yes."

Ross glared at him, frustrated that he was at his mercy. "Why are you interrogating me? Wouldn't your leader be more interested?"

Starscream smirked, "Megatron doesn't exactly know you're here right now. Now tell me, how is our _precious_ Elizabetta doing?"

"She's surviving," Ross answered, "Why?"

"Didn't the Autobots fill you in on anything that we did to her?"

"No, I told you I was their prisoner."

"We tried to extract the powers of the Allspark from her and contain them within another cube, but the Autobots interrupted the process before we could finish when they rescued Elizabetta. After relocating the base and erasing any evidence that our last base existed, we tried to use the new cube to see just what it can do. To make a long story short, it has some use, enough to sustain us if we should be injured, but not enough to create a whole army of Decepticons to lead in an uprising against the Autobots," Starscream explained, "Megatron is currently making alternate plans…but I don't exactly _like_ Megatron."

"So you want me to help you get Elizabetta so that you can lead an uprising of your own against Megatron, while you can."

Starscream smiled, "Precisely."

"And if I don't help, you'll kill me."

"You are very good human."

"I have a feeling you'll kill me anyway, regardless if I help or not."

Starscream narrowed his optics at him, "Will you help me human, or do you choose to suffer the consequences?"

Ross groaned out of frustration. He hated being turned into the bad guy by the Decepticons. He knew he wasn't perfect, but this wasn't fair. He didn't want to help because he didn't particularly want to endanger Elizabetta, after how the Autobots treated him; he could hardly care what happened to them. But what did he have to lose? Even if the Autobots found out he was giving the Decepticons information, he could blame them for pissing him off and forcing him to runaway. And if he was just going to be killed anyway by the Decepticons, what did it matter? Everybody was just going to die in the end.

"I'll help you," he agreed.

"Wise decision, human," Starscream remarked as he picked him up in his hand.

"Where are we going?" Ross asked, startled.

"I'm taking you to my quarters, that way none of the other Decepticons can find you and take you to Megatron. You don't understand how much that would thwart my plans."

"But Barricade brought me here," Ross explained, "He knows I'm here."

"Don't worry, when Barricade brought you here, I told him I would inform Megatron of the hostage he brought in. He'll just think I informed him, when I didn't."

"Oh," he remarked and watched as Starscream carried him down a series of hallways until they arrived at a door, which Ross assumed was the door to Starscream's quarters. He watched as the Decepticon second-in-command typed a code into a keypad beside the door. The door unlocked and opened.

Starscream entered and set Ross on his desk, not so gently. "Don't try to escape," he said as he headed back out of the room, "It won't be pretty if you do."

Ross watched as the door closed and sighed heavily. He growled. It seemed like no matter where he went, he would always be a prisoner. _"So much for freedom,"_ he thought bitterly.

* * *

Elizabetta awoke to someone sitting on her bed. Thinking it was Ross; she panicked and quickly sat up, only to hear Optimus' reassuring voice say, "Calm down Elizabetta, it's only me."

She sighed, relaxing and laid back down, snuggling into the mattress. "What are you doing here so early?" she asked. She noticed the time on her clock said 9:09am.

"We found video surveillance of Ross leaving the base."

"So he ran away, he's gone?"

"Yes," Optimus answered, "And rather than wasting our time trying to find him, we're going to relocate the base. That way if he does try to come back, he'll never be able to find us and cause more grief."

Elizabetta smiled at the idea. "But Optimus," she stated, "What happens if he tries to tell anybody about you and the rest of the Autobots?"

"I don't think anybody would believe him. If he talked about you though, well, the humans would have to handle that. When he went to show them where you were, you wouldn't be there."

She snickered, "And wouldn't that look just awful for him."

He smiled softly, "Are you feeling better?"

"Much better today," she replied, "And I think half it is because I know Ross is gone and he's never coming back. We'll never have to deal with him again."

"Well, we can't rule out the possibility that the Decepticons might track him down. They know about his existence," Optimus explained.

"Yeah, but why would they want him? He would only cause them trouble like he did us, and they would only kill him for it anyway."

"Do you ever think we were too hard on him?"

Elizabetta shook her head, "Of course not. He was completely aware of everything he was doing. He deserved everything we gave to him."

Optimus decided not to dwell on it; after all, there was no taking back anything that they had done. Ross was gone and if they were lucky, they wouldn't have to worry about him again. "We're working quickly to find a new base," he explained, "I have Bumblebee, Jazz, and Ironhide scouting for a new location as we speak."

"What about Ratchet?"

"He's already started packing up; he has a lot more to transport than the rest of use Autobots. He has all his medical equipment and everything."

"You guys don't need a medic when you have me."

"The Allspark creates life, it does not heal injuries."

"Oh," she remarked.

He smirked, "It's okay, it's a common misconception. Now, I'll leave you alone to get ready. Hopefully we'll be packed up and moved out of here within the next few days. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

She frowned, "How come you're always so quick to leave? Is there something bothering you Optimus?"

He stiffened. She had caught him off guard. He watched as panic suddenly glittered across her eyes and she quickly said, "I'm sorry, you're busy, I shouldn't have asked that."

"No, it's alright," he said, "But there is something we need to talk about later."

She nodded, "That's fine."

He stood from the bed and headed towards the door, "Don't be afraid to ask me anything, Elizabetta. If you need anything, you know where to find me." And with that, he left.

Elizabetta sighed heavily once the doors had closed. She listened as he walked away before getting up and going into the bathroom so that she could take a shower. Once she had stripped down completely naked, she looked at herself in the mirror. Nothing had changed; she was the same as she was yesterday. She smiled, happy, and stepped inside the shower.

However, as she caressed her body and hair in soap and shampoo, she couldn't help but think about Optimus. He was so confusing lately; with everything he said and did to take care of her. She knew he was going above and beyond, and he was paying a lot more attention to her than the rest of the Autobots. She sighed.

After everything that she had gone through, between all the mayhem and chaos from losing her best friend to being kidnapped and nearly killed by the Decepticons herself, she had managed to fall head over heels for the leader of the Autobots. Elizabetta knew every blush, every time her heart fluttered; Optimus was usually the cause for it. His holoform looked exactly like the man she imagined she would fall in love with. She shook her head, trying to disband the thoughts that were swarming around inside of it.

"I cannot be in love with Optimus Prime," she said aloud, "He is a robot and a million times too tall for me. Like he said, a relationship would never work out between us. Besides, even though he has that extremely sexy holoform, I want to love something real, not a projection."

As if she were in a daze, she rinsed the conditioner from her hair and hugged herself tightly. She had to stop feeling, while emotions were a blessed thing; they were also such a curse. It wasn't fair.

Elizabetta turned off the water and toweled herself off. When she was completely dry, she dressed and dried her hair. When she thought she was presentable, she left her bathroom and sat down in the living area of her room. She didn't really want to stay here cooped up all day. Yesterday when she was running away from Ross, she had almost made it to the command center. Maybe if she tried she could make it today and find something to do to keep her busy. But, she knew she would probably just get in the Autobots way as they tried to prepare things so that they could move into their new base. So she figured she should do the same and began packing her things into her suitcases.

* * *

Optimus sighed as he sat at his desk, finalizing some reports. While moving to a new base was on his mind, Elizabetta was too. Her energy level readings were increasing everyday back to their normal levels, making her almost completely healthy again. He wasn't as worried about her now as he had been while the Decepticons had her, and he definitely wasn't scared now as when they had rescued her, back when nobody knew if she would ever fully recover or not. Optimus paused, the stylus he was holding hovered in the air above the datapad.

He hadn't felt so scared, so worried _sick_ in a long time…not even when Megatron, his own brother died. Back before the war started, back when he and Megatron were on good terms, he had had a family of his own. A beautiful spark mate, a beautiful, beautiful son, but Megatron had made sure to eliminate them once the war had started. Optimus winced at the memory. He had vowed never to take another mate or have any more children until peace had been established, and while it had been temporarily when Megatron was killed, it was destroyed before it could even be enjoyed. And femmes were scarce now, Autobot and Decepticon alike.

Femmes had come and gone through his life though, like shadows on his weary soul, but he had been too afraid to try and love any of them. But Elizabetta…

While she was human-turned-immortal by the very last existing fragment of the Allspark, while her species was weak in stature but strong in mentality and emotion, while she was so imperfect for him, and while he was so afraid, he was very familiar with the emotion that was stirring inside the very chamber of his spark.

He set the stylus down and rested his head against his hand as he stared ahead, looking at nothing in particular. He sighed heavily as he stood up. There was no point in sitting at his desk prolonging what he needed to tell Elizabetta.

* * *

Elizabetta wasn't surprised when she heard a knock at her door a couple hours after she began packing. She gave whoever was knocking permission to enter, and she glanced over to witness Optimus' holoform come into her room. She felt a smile tug across her lips as she tried to fight back a blush that threatened to burn onto her cheeks.

"Going somewhere?" he asked as he observed her packing some of her things.

"I'm just getting ready to move into the new base," she responded, turning to him, "What brings you back here?"

"Remember how I said there was something we needed to talk about later?" he asked.

She nodded, "Yes, and let me guess, it's later now."

"Yes," he answered, "And I don't want to talk here. Come on, let's go for a drive."

Elizabetta glanced momentarily at her stuff before she followed him out the door. She watched as he deactivated his holoform and proceeded to pick her up in his hand. Even though she had been with them all these weeks, she still couldn't get used to how much bigger and stronger the transformers were.

When they got to the exit of the base, Optimus set her down and transformed into his vehicle form. Elizabetta got inside and behind the wheel so that it looked like someone was driving. However, Optimus' windows were so heavily tinted that nobody would have been able to tell anyway. As they pulled away from the base and headed out on the highway, Elizabetta asked, "Are your troops okay with you leaving?"

"I told Ratchet I was stepping out for a while. Bumblebee, Ironhide, and Jazz have already reported back to me and I have okayed the area they chose for our new base. They'll be busy the rest of this afternoon since they're going to start constructing the new base," Optimus explained.

"Ah," Elizabetta replied, knowing she shouldn't have questioned Optimus because he always seemed to be prepared. She waited for him to say something, but she guessed he didn't care for small talk at the moment. Unnerved by the silence between them, she decided to speak. "So," she stated, "What is it that we need to talk about?"

"I'll tell you in a bit," he responded.

"Okay," she remarked, and waited. She watched out the window as all sorts of scenery passed by. They went through one town and the next, neither of them saying a word. Elizabetta began to wonder if there was anything Optimus needed to say or if he was just up to something. "Optimus," she asked as she noticed the sun beginning to sink below the horizon, "Where are we going?"

"Nowhere in particular," he answered.

"The sun is beginning to set though, and we're quite a ways from the base."

"Don't worry, Elizabetta."

She sighed, and watched as stars began to come out in the night sky. After what seemed like another hour had gone by, Optimus finally stopped. Elizabetta stared out the windshield, trying to figure out where they were. But what she saw took her breath away. Optimus had parked in front of a moonlit lake, the sky was illuminated with millions of stars. There were so many stars in the sky, Elizabetta didn't know how there was room left in the sky. "Oh wow," she breathed, relaxing into the seat, "It's beautiful out there."

"I thought you would like it," he remarked as his holoform materialized in the seat beside her.

She looked at him, his eyes meeting hers. She felt a breath catch in her throat and a blush rise to her cheeks. She quickly looked away, hoping he hadn't noticed. She found one star in the sky and stared at it, "You wanted to talk?" She listened as he sighed; he seemed to be conflicted by something.

"Elizabetta, how do you feel?" he asked.

She looked back at him, "I feel fine—

"No," he stated as he gestured to her heart, "How do you feel, in there, about me?"

Elizabetta felt a blush burn so harshly onto her face that it brought tears to her eyes. She was embarrassed because she thought she had done something wrong, that she had been too easy to read, that Optimus saw how she felt and didn't want her to feel that way. "I don't want you to hate me," she blurted out, before she could think of what to say.

He shook his head, "I never could, regardless of how you felt."

She attempted to breathe, but air wasn't making its way to her lungs. She swallowed and took a deep breath, calming her nerves. He saw that she was having a hard time saying what she needed to, and he decided to speak first, hoping that would help her. "Elizabetta," he said, "Before the war ever began, before Megatron became who he is now, I had a family…I had a spark mate, which would be equivalent to what you earthlings call a wife, and I had a son. But after the war started, they were both killed, and the pain was so unbearable, I vowed never to love again until there was peace."

"I'm so sorry Optimus," she breathed, "I had no idea."

"That was millions upon millions of years ago, and while their loss is still painful, I've had time to heal, time to move on, but I'll never forget them," he explained, "I've been so afraid to let other femmes into my life, though I've tried, that fear was always there. But then…then I met you."

She looked at him, "What do you mean?"

He sighed, "Elizabetta, I don't know how, but you've changed me, and while that fear is still there, there is something else."

"Optimus I…" she hesitated and then looked him dead in the eyes as she found the strength to say, "I don't know when it happened, I don't know why…I think it's because you were the only who's been there for me and the only one who's gone above and beyond to take care of me, but all of a sudden I feel like I need you in order to survive…and I want you to feel the same about me."

He gently cupped her face in his hand and tilted her face towards his. "That's all I needed to know," he remarked before he leaned forward and captured her lips with his in a passionate kiss.

Elizabetta gasped, but accepted the kiss, closing her eyes as she did so. She was completely shocked; this was the last thing she had expected to happen. But the kiss was so passionate, so real, so full of love. She let him wrap his arms around her and pull her closer to him as he deepened the kiss. Her heart swelled inside her chest, it felt like it was beating a million miles an hour.

"I love you," he breathed.

"I love you too," she replied gently, "And I don't want you to be afraid." But just as she said that, a pain shot through her whole body, causing her to grimace.

"What's wrong?" Optimus asked, his eyes full of concern.

"Some-Something is happening," she remarked through gritted teeth as she looked up at him.

Optimus nearly gasped. Her eyes were glowing a light shade of blue as if she had optics. As he continued to look her over, he noticed the symbols on her arms and back were glowing the same shade of blue. She turned away from him suddenly and opened the door to his cab. She stumbled out and fell to the ground. Optimus quickly got out and went to come to her aid when suddenly her body was engulfed in a bright blue light. He had to shield his eyes as the light suddenly pulsed and grew. When he looked back, lying where Elizabetta had been was a femme.

The Autobot leader quickly deactivated his holoform and transformed into his robot form. He knelt by the femme's side and took her in his arms. "Elizabetta?" he asked, "Elizabetta, are you okay?"

Her light blue optics flickered online and she met Optimus' gaze. "Optimus," she remarked, "How did you get so small?"

He smiled softly, "I think you should take a look at yourself."

She looked down over her body and gasped, "What…what happened?"

"I have a feeling this has something to do with the Allspark," he replied as he gazed over her form. She was white with blue and silver accents. The symbols were still engraved on her arms and back and they were black in color. "You're beautiful," he breathed before he realized what he was saying, causing Elizabetta to blush.

"What happens now though?" she remarked. While she was completely thrilled at the idea of being a transformer, it would have its downfalls too.

He grinned, "After tonight, nothing is going to be the same. Nobody can know of us, it's too risky. But for now, we're going to have to figure out how to get you back to the base since it doesn't look like you have a vehicle form."

"We could walk," she suggested, "But it might take us all night to get home."

"Or we could find you a vehicle form to scan," Optimus remarked.

She nodded, "Alright, but keep in mind that this might take a while since I'm a femme, so I'm going to be picky."

He chuckled, "Well, try not to take too long."

Hand in hand, they walked towards the road and hid behind and embankment so that passing cars wouldn't see them. Several cars went by that Elizabetta didn't particularly care for. However, just as Optimus' patience started to wear thin, a slick sports car coming down the highway caught her attention. She scanned it, just as Optimus had instructed her too, and once she had the image in her databanks, the Autobot leader looked to her and said, "Try transforming."

She sighed heavily, "You won't laugh at me if I get stuck in a really stupid looking position will you?"

He smiled, "I'll try not to."

"Perfect," she sighed and breathed the word, "Transform." Before she was ready, she felt her body shift and when the shifting stopped, she saw the road before her. "Did it work?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied, "I like it."

She had chosen a 2011 Saturn Sky Convertible as her vehicle form. She was silver with two royal blue racing stripes that went down her center from bumper to bumper. Elizabetta pulled out onto the road as Optimus transformed and got on the road in front of her. He then led her back to the base.

When they got back, it was nearly ten o'clock. Elizabetta was exhausted and barely had the energy to transform back into her robot mode when she and Optimus got back to the base. She glanced at Optimus as he transformed into his robot form and asked tiredly, "Where am I supposed to sleep? My room is too small."

He took her by the hand. "Come with me," he said as he led her into the base.

Elizabetta followed him through the base, not paying attention to where they went. She was exhausted and trying not to fall asleep as she and Optimus navigated their way through the base. After what felt like forever, they finally stopped outside a room. Elizabetta looked up, recognizing the door. "Your room?" she asked timidly.

"Back when you first came here, I promised that you wouldn't have to do anything you didn't want to. Our base is undergoing deconstruction since we're preparing to move, and I'm afraid there are no other rooms available for the time being…" Optimus trailed off, "Would you like to stay with me tonight? I will watch over you and you needn't be afraid."

She felt a smile tug across her lips, "Well, if you put it that way, I would love to stay with you Optimus."

He led her into his room and together they laid down on his recharge berth. Optimus took her in his arms and Elizabetta stared into his soft blue optics, she hadn't been this comfortable in a long time. "Thank you," she whispered, "For showing me how to be happy again."

The Autobot leader smiled and kissed her forehead lightly. "And thank you," he murmured, "For showing me that I don't need to be afraid."

She pressed herself against him, basking in his warmth, his security, his love. No, things wouldn't be the same from here on out, but she was so welcoming of the change. "Good night," she breathed.

"Good night, love."

And together they fell into a peaceful slumber.

* * *

I decided to leave it on a happy note for you guys. Until the next chapter, please give me some feedback! XD


	12. Decepticon Demands

I love how on this site that if you have a problem you can usually find a creative way to go around it. My problem: FFN wouldn't let me upload a document into the document manager. My solution: I exported the last chapter of my story and a copy of it went to my document manager. I deleted what was in the document and pasted in the new chapter. XD

* * *

**Chapter 12: Decepticon Demands**

A voice, from deep inside her own heart, told her she didn't want to wake up. Elizabetta struggled to fall back to sleep, but she was too well rested and sleep didn't come. Sighing heavily, she rolled onto her back and stared lazily up at the ceiling, which felt like it was a million miles away from her.

Wait a minute…

Elizabetta's eyes flew open as she sat up and looked herself over. She was stunned to see she had resumed her human form. She clenched and unclenched her fist, trying to get a grip on what was going on. _"I did fall asleep as a transformer, didn't I?"_ she questioned herself. She swallowed hard and looked to her right. Optimus' giant form was still there, he was still sound asleep. It had to be the Allspark's doing, there was no other explanation for her sudden transformations. But…why did it make her a transformer, if only for a night?

She shook her head, trying not to overwhelm herself with so many thoughts so early in the morning. Instead, she looked back over at Optimus, trying to decide what she would say when he woke up. They had had a very romantic evening, and while neither of them had expected her to suddenly turn into a femme, it clearly had its advantages.

"Good morning, Elizabetta."

Elizabetta looked up to him, surprised. "How long have you been awake?" she asked.

"Not very long," he replied, "Why are you human again?"

"I wish I knew…I'm sorry Optimus."

"Do not be sorry for something you cannot control, we can still love each other," he reassured her as he gently rubbed a finger up and down her back.

She smiled gently, "Even though I'm a human?"

"It was your human form I fell in love with," he stated, "Now what do you say we get up? We have a lot of stuff to do today. The sooner we get the new base completed, the better."

Elizabetta nodded, "Alright. Just help me get down from here. I just want to shower and change my clothes first. Then I'll join you in the command center."

He sat up before scooping her up in his hand and setting her gently on the floor. "Try not to take too long," he said as he got up himself and headed for the door, "I don't want to miss you too long."

She smiled, "I'll try not to keep you waiting too long Optimus."

He nodded and left the room. Elizabetta left the room as well and wandered down the hall until she reached her own room where she went inside and grabbed an outfit before heading into the bathroom to shower. As she showered, she couldn't help but notice she was grinning from ear to ear. She couldn't remember the last time she had been this happy. She hugged herself tightly, trying to keep from squealing in delight. More than ever she wished she could have texted her friends or called her parents and tell them all about the wonderful man she had met, the wonderful man that she had fallen in love with, the wonderful man who saved her life…

"Mom, dad," she imagined herself introducing the Autobot leader to her parents, "This is Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots _and_ my new boyfriend!" She could just picture the shocked expressions on their faces for knowing she was romantically involved with a giant robot, but after she explained everything to them, about how she was immortal, about how he had a holoform, about how they could make it work, they would understand.

"Lizbee, are you sure this is what you want?" she could hear her mother saying.

"He makes me so happy mom," she envisioned herself answering.

"Well then, that's all that matters."

Elizabetta sighed heavily; she missed her parents so much. She wished she could tell them that she was okay, but it was better that she didn't. There would be so many questions, none of them which she could answer. Maybe someday, if the Decepticons were defeated again, she would go to them and tell them she was okay, she had always been okay. She just didn't want them to worry about her, especially if she had Optimus and the rest of the Autobots to protect her.

After turning off the water and drying herself off, Elizabetta wrapped the towel around her thin form and stepped out of the shower. She dried her hair and then got dressed. Her outfit consisted of blue jeans and a nice blouse. She smiled at her reflection in the mirror, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. After she left the bathroom, she quickly packed up the rest of her things. She didn't pay much attention to the time, not until she glanced at the clock and realized almost two hours had passed.

She was just about to leave for the command center when there was a knock at her door. She went to the door and answered it, only to see Optimus' holoform standing there. She smiled softly as she said, "Sorry, I got packing my things and lost track of time."

"Did you need help with anything?" he asked.

She shook her head, "No, I pretty much got it taken care of. Did I miss anything in the command center?"

"Not really, my men have been working diligently on the new base. It is almost done."

"So you have a few minutes to spare?" she asked as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist and guided her into the room, allowing the door to close behind them. "I have more than just a few," he breathed as he leaned forward and kissed her.

Elizabetta sighed as she relaxed against him, accepting his kiss. His kisses were so perfect, his lips were warm, wet, delicious...and he kissed so much better than any other human boy she had been with.

"What happens after we get to the new base?" Elizabetta asked as their kiss ended.

"We hunt down and destroy the Decepticons," he answered.

"Be careful."

"I will," he said, "As always. Now shall we get going? We need to tear this place down."

She nodded, "Alright, just help me carry my stuff."

Optimus proceeded to help her carry her things into the hallway where they sat them down. Once they had everything, the Autobot leader resumed his robot form and picked up all her stuff with one hand before placing it in his subspace. He then picked up Elizabetta and set her on his shoulder. He walked to the exit of the base before he sat her down, transformed, and allowed Elizabetta inside his vehicle form. Once inside, Optimus revved his engine and drove out of the base.

Elizabetta couldn't help but feel relieved.

* * *

Megatron sighed as he observed the fake Allspark his lackeys had made. It definitely wasn't the best quality. He observed that the symbols that had been carved onto it had already been worn out and weren't even readable anymore. He set it aside disdainfully and got up from his throne. Without a word, he left the throne room as well as the base. He transformed and took off towards the Heavens. The Decepticon leader had every intention of visiting with his master to find out what this other source of energy he had mentioned was.

When he arrived, he immediately found his master. The Fallen did not move, as he was confined to a chair until his systems were back up to strength. "What is it, my disciple?" The Fallen asked.

"Our plans failed to extract the power of the Allspark from the human and confine it within another source, many thanks to the Autobots," Megatron explained before adding, "And they have the female as well."

"No matter," The Fallen said calmly, patience was his virtue, "I take it you are curious about the other energy source I mentioned."

"That I am."

"Long before your time, the original Primes and I built a machine capable of harvesting the power of suns in order to maintain the energy levels on Cybertron. A sun harvester was built on Earth, under my jurisdiction. However, the other Primes did not believe in taking the sun of a planet that was inhabited. I despise the human race and tried to obtain the Matrix of Leadership, which was used to activate the sun harvester. The Primes used their bodies to hide the Matrix, forming a tomb around it. I am unaware of their whereabouts…but in order to activate the sun harvester, the Matrix needs to be found."

Megatron smiled at the idea of extinguishing the humans' sun. "Where is the sun harvester?"

"It's hidden in what the humans call the Great Pyramids of Giza, Egypt," The Fallen said.

"Do you have any clues as to where the Matrix may be?" Megatron asked.

"The symbols on the Allspark, they were a map to the location of the Matrix. Are you aware if those symbols are still in existence?"

Megatron growled, "They're on the girl."

"I say it's time we made humankind aware that they're not alone in the universe."

* * *

"Starscream, I want you to assemble a group of soldiers to attack various locations of importance to the humans on Earth. Attack their temples, their battleships, their cities, monuments, capitals, I don't care, just make sure the soldiers attack these types of locations globally," Megatron ordered once he got back to base.

Starscream looked at his commander confused, "May I ask why, sir?"

"The Fallen has a message for the people of Earth, and by carrying out these attacks; we will show them what we are capable of."

"Yes sir," he said as he went to leave and prepare the team.

"Oh and Starscream?"

"Yes?" he hissed, annoyed.

"Do not attack the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt; our super weapon is hidden inside one of them."

"As you command sir," Starscream said as he left the throne room. He couldn't possibly imagine what kind of super weapon was hidden on this dirt ball of a planet…or just what The Fallen wanted to say to the humans. All he knew was that something big was about to happen.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon by the time Optimus and Elizabetta arrived at the new base. Elizabetta was grateful to get out of Optimus and stretch as he transformed into his robot form. As they toured the new base though, Elizabetta was mildly upset that the base was the same layout as their old base. She knew it was so that the Autobots didn't have to take time to learn where everything was. This way they could remain up to speed without confusing themselves in the process.

After walking around a bit, Optimus took Elizabetta to her new room, which was ideally located next to his quarters now. He removed her things from her subspace and set them outside her door before asking, "Would you like help unpacking?"

She nodded, "That would be nice."

"Alright," he said, "I'll be right back."

Elizabetta watched as he disappeared inside his quarters. She knew he was assuming his holoform, and rather than having his robot form just standing in the hallway, she understood he was letting it stay out of the way inside his quarters. She grabbed a couple suitcases and went inside her room. She tossed the suitcases onto her bed before she opened them up and began putting her things away.

It didn't surprise her when Optimus came in, carrying more of her luggage, he set it next to her bed. He then went and brought in the rest of her things. Together, they spent the rest of the afternoon unpacking her things. When finished, Optimus was just about to pull Elizabetta into a kiss when something vibrated in his pocket. Curious, Optimus pulled out a device that was similar to a cellular phone. He figured it must have been his comlink and he flipped open the device. "Optimus here," he said.

"Optimus, its Ratchet, perhaps you should come to the command center."

"What's going on?"

"The Decepticons initiated a global broadcast through the human television system…it's not good."

"I'll be right there, Optimus out," the Autobot leader said as he closed the device.

"What's going on?" Elizabetta asked, concerned.

"The Decepticons are up to no good again."

"Great," she groaned, "I'm coming with you."

He nodded. Elizabetta waited for him outside her room until he came out of his quarters. He gently picked her up and set her on his shoulder. It didn't take them long to get to the command center, where the rest of the Autobots were waiting.

"Do you have the broadcast?" Optimus asked as he walked in.

"Yeah," Jazz said as he pressed a button.

The broadcast began to play and Optimus felt his temper flare as he watched. An imaged of The Fallen came on the screen. "Fleshbags…for quite some time now you've wondered if you were alone in this universe. The answer is you're not…and there are demands which I want met. You are to surrender this girl to my army," he said as an image of Elizabetta flashed on the monitor, as well as her social security number and ID, "You have witnessed destruction by our hands, and until we have the girl with the symbols, the destruction will continue. You have been warned." And the broadcast cut out.

Elizabetta wanted to faint.

* * *

"You don't happen to have any pictures of the girl, do you?"

Ross wasn't sure whether to cower in fear or actually answer Starscream's question. He looked up at the Decepticon second-in-command confused before finally saying, "You mean, Elizabetta?"

Starscream spat at him, "Who else would I mean? The symbols engraved on her arms and back are a map to the Matrix of Leadership. We need the Matrix in order to activate our super weapon."

Ross shook his head, "No…I don't have any pictures."

"But…" Starscream mused, picking Ross up and squeezing him tightly in his sharp, metallic hand, "You do know where the Autobots base is."

Ross didn't dare squirm for fear that his flesh would be cut to pieces from the sharpness of Starscream's fingers. "Y-Yeah," he stammered, "If you put me down I can tell you exactly where it is."

"I beg to differ," Starscream said as he placed Ross inside of his cockpit, "You can show me where their base is." He then headed out of the base and transformed, taking to the skies. "Tell me where to go," he said.

And he gave him directions to practically the middle of nowhere. But when they finally arrived to where the Autobot base was, Ross felt his stomach drop. The familiar hidden entrance was gone, and he could tell by Starscream's highly irritated growl that his scanners weren't detecting anything.

"You better not be playing games with me," the Decepticon threatened.

Ross shook his head, "No, I'm not. They must have moved the base in case I tried to come back."

"You _don't realize_ how much this thwarts my plans," he hissed venomously.

"It's not my fault they packed up and left."

Starscream decided not to stick around as he quickly turned and headed back to the Decepticon base. "You're not going to like Megatron," he growled.

"What…what do you mean?"

"I don't have any use for you anymore. We really don't need a hostage right now either, and the Autobots obviously don't want you back, maybe, by slim margin of error, if anything, Megatron _might_ find some use for you."

Ross swallowed hard. "And if he doesn't?" he asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

Starscream just laughed.

* * *

If Elizabetta hadn't been on Optimus' shoulder, she would have bolted from the room, from the base, and from the planet if she could have, but even then it seemed like the universe wasn't big enough to hide her from the Decepticons. The worst part was knowing that innocent people had died already in the Decepticons plans to obtain her…and she didn't even know why they wanted her.

"Optimus," she heard herself breathe, "I need to get out of here."

Optimus glanced quickly around the room before excusing himself from the command center. He walked down a few hallways before he took Elizabetta from his shoulder and set her down on the floor. He then assumed his holoform and hugged her tightly against him.

Elizabetta tried desperately not to cry. She felt so selfish for fearing so much for her own safety, but she knew that mankind was doomed either way, it didn't matter if the Decepticons got her or not. They would kill until they had her and the killing wouldn't stop even once they did. Their goal was universal domination through human extermination. It was like War of the Worlds had really come to life.

"We'll find a way to counterstrike," he said, "We'll figure out what they're after and use it to our own advantage."

"We have to make them stop killing innocent people first," she said, voice wavering.

"Elizabetta, even if we turned you over to them, the killings wouldn't stop. I'll heighten the security; I'll have all Autobots around the globe be prepared for Decepticon attacks against humans. We can't stop the loss of life, but maybe we can lessen the numbers killed."

"What about my family?" she breathed, "What about my friends? They're not stupid; they'll know to use that against me."

"We'll bring them here if we have to. After that broadcast, we Transformers are no longer a secret. But, we must continue to hide for fear of retaliation."

"I'm so scared Optimus…"

He looked her right in the eye. "You don't need to be afraid," he said, kissing her forehead, "I'm right here, I'll always be right here."

The tears finally spilled from her eyes and Optimus quickly worked to dry them. "We'll get through this," he tried to reassure her, "I promise you. Tears won't solve anything."

She knew he was right and she inhaled deeply, trying to relax her nerves. After a few silent moments, she finally said, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

He smiled. "Come on," he said, "Let's get back to the command center and see if we can figure out why the Decepticons want you back."

She nodded, "Alright."

* * *

"Just _where_ in the _Pit_ did you find this abomination?" Megatron growled as Starscream presented him the human.

"Barricade brought him in actually," Starscream said, "The Autobots cast him out."

"Cast him out?" the Decepticon leader said, surprised, then he added with venom, "Just why do you think we should have him here if he was obviously causing trouble with the Autobots?"

"I thought, by chance, we might have some use for him," Starscream explained, "If not, I can just as easily do away with him."

"Has he been interrogated?"

"Yes. He was the one who surrendered Elizabetta to us before, maybe; somehow he can do it again."

Megatron pondered Starscream's words. "We'll keep him around, just for a bit. He may prove to be useful later."

"Yes sir."

"I am curious to know why he was rejected by the Autobots."

"More or less, he was acting as a Decepticon ally."

Megatron tossed Ross back to Starscream, "I hope he enjoys being our pet."

"Why sir, he won't have a choice."

* * *

Not the best ending, but my creative juices weren't really flowing for this chapter. Feel free to give me feedback, good or bad, all feedback is welcome.


	13. Under These Egyptian Stars

So, who has seen TF3 Dark of the Moon? I've seen it twice…it so totally beats the first two movies combined…I love it. Anyways, here's the next chapter of this story.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Under These Egyptian Stars**

"_Flesh bags…for quite some time now you've wondered if you were alone in this universe. The answer is you're not…and there are demands which I want met. You are to surrender this girl to my army. You have witnessed destruction by our hands, and until we have the girl with the symbols, the destruction will continue. You have been warned."_

Elizabetta swallowed hard as she hit the stop button on the remote and proceeded to rewind The Fallen's message. She then hit play again and listened. She couldn't shake the feeling that there was something in this warning that was a clue to the Decepticons intentions. Yes, the Allspark had managed to rebirth inside of her and she may have contained all of its knowledge, but she doubted that the Decepticons were after her for its power. There was something else. The Fallen did not say anything about why she was wanted…

"…_until we have the girl with the symbols…"_

Elizabetta tensed as she quickly rewound the tape and replayed those words again. She felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. It was a complete whim, but it was the biggest clue she could find. They wanted her for her symbols. They were on the disc she had found, they were on the Allspark, they had to mean something.

But, what?

"Is everything okay?" asked a soft, gentle voice as arms encircled her waist from behind.

Elizabetta couldn't help but give a small smile and relax into the embrace. "Optimus," she said as she turned off the small television in her room, "I think I know why the Decepticons want me."

"Is it because you're the most amazing person in the universe?" he asked as he turned her to face him.

Her smile broadened, "If the Decepticons knew we were together, they would be even more eager to get me."

He kissed her forehead as he pulled her closer to him. "They won't take you from me," he breathed.

"I think they want me for my symbols," she confessed as she wrapped her arms around his holoform's waist, "The Fallen mentioned it in his warning message."

"You do not believe they are after the power of the Allspark?" Optimus asked.

Elizabetta shook her head, "No. They have to be up to something else. Why else would The Fallen suddenly be a part of this?"

Optimus thought over what she said for a moment before saying, "When you were with the Decepticons, did they say anything else as to what their plans might be?"

"No. I'm afraid they're very good at keeping secrets," she said and then asked, "Can you read the symbols?"

"Let me see."

Elizabetta didn't hesitate as she quickly removed her shirt. Optimus' eyes didn't immediately go to the symbols. Instead, his gaze passed over her stomach, her finely chiseled collar bones, the curve of her breasts that were hidden by her bra. He then looked to the symbols that went down her arms and spine.

"It's the language of the seven original Primes," he said, "Only a few ancient Cybertronians can decipher what the symbols mean. Unfortunately they predate my time."

"Can we find any of these ancient Cybertronians? I mean, if we find out what the symbols mean, it might give us a clue as to what the Decepticons are up to and why they want me."

"We can certainly try," Optimus answered, "But Elizabetta…"

"Yes?" she asked, looking to him.

He didn't say anything as he gently pressed his lips to hers in a passionate kiss. Elizabetta leaned into his embrace and tenderly kissed him back. He traced his fingertips up her arms, tracing each symbol, and ran a hand down her spine, causing her to arch her back and lean into him further. His fingertips played with the back of her bra until he found himself undoing the clips. Elizabetta gasped suddenly and leaned back, looking up at him with fear, uncertainty, and excitement swirling in her eyes. "Do you think it's too soon?" she asked.

"It's so hard to resist the temptation of you."

"Would you rather have me as a human or as a transformer?"

"I could care less as long as I just have you."

Her lips found his again.

* * *

Ratchet wasn't surprised to see Optimus come into the med bay with Elizabetta on his shoulder later that evening. He stopped what he was working on and looked to them. "Ratchet, I have a favor to ask of you," the Autobot leader said.

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to locate an ancient Cybertronian who is capable of deciphering the symbols etched into Elizabetta's flesh. If we can figure out what they mean, we may be able to thwart the Decepticons plans. I don't know what Megatron and The Fallen are up to, but we cannot afford to allow them to continue killing innocent humans."

"I'll get right on it sir," Ratchet said, "I'll notify you if I find anything."

"Thank you Ratchet…and do you think you could locate Elizabetta's family as well?"

"I can try…if it's not too late."

Optimus felt Elizabetta tense and he simply nodded before he left the med bay. He looked to Elizabetta as she breathed, "It can't be too late, can it? The Decepticons wouldn't have killed them…do you think?"

"The Decepticons are capable of anything," Optimus answered.

She could see he was being vague in his responses, she knew that he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news. "Do you believe in luck?" she asked.

"Everything is going to be okay, Elizabetta. I don't think the Decepticons would kill them, they may hold them hostage to get to you, or they may ignore them completely. Don't give up hope, even when it's the very end."

She sighed heavily, taking comfort in Optimus' words. "I think Ross has everything to do with this," she said, "I mean, the moment he escapes the Decepticons suddenly initiate their plan."

"It may just be coincidence. The Decepticons are unlikely to take human allies."

"Not unless it benefits them."

"What use would they have for him? Even if they have him and are holding him hostage, I'm not going to go out of my way to save him."

Elizabetta chuckled, "Optimus, that's so…so Decepticon of you."

He smirked as he looked over to her, "Just don't repeat what I said to anyone else, though I think the rest of my men would understand my decision."

"Ratchet to Optimus."

"I'm here Ratchet."

"I found an ancient transformer at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC," Ratchet said, "I suggest we leave soon, before the Decepticons can catch on to what we're doing."

"Understood, Ratchet," Optimus said as he tuned his comlink to all channels, "Autobots, rendezvous with me at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC stat…I will explain what is going on once we get there. Optimus out." And he ended the transmission.

"Road trip," Elizabetta stated as Optimus headed for the exit of the base.

Once he got there, he set Elizabetta on the ground before he transformed into his truck form. He opened his door so she could get in before he left the base, headed for Washington DC. It would take a day or two to get there considering they were close to the west coast, but he planned on travelling nonstop. His systems could handle the constant travel, unlike humans.

"What's the plan, Optimus?" Elizabetta asked as they pulled away from the base.

"If he's in a museum, that means he's in a deep stasis. You're going to have to wake him up."

"But what about the security at the museum?" she wondered, "I can't let them see me. They'll immediately report me to the government, then I'm screwed."

"We'll handle it," Optimus said.

* * *

About 24 hours had gone by, and Elizabetta groaned as she made her way through hallways and corridors of the Air and Space Museum, trying to find this transformer that was hidden inside. She wasn't sure how the Autobots had done it, but they managed to get all personnel, security included, to vacate the building.

None of the Autobots were small enough to get inside without causing damage; it was her that had to go inside, armed with an Energon detector, to find the ancient transformer. Finally, after several long minutes of searching, her Energon detector began to go off. She ran forward as the signal got stronger, until she stumbled upon a giant, black seeker. "This must be it," she mumbled to herself as she walked underneath the ropes that were around the aircraft before walking under the aircraft itself and placing her hand on him. "Wake up!" she said, channeling some of the Allspark's energy into the seeker, causing him to suddenly jolt and groan as he began to transform. That's when she caught a glimpse of his Decepticon insignia.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed as she quickly made her way to the exit. She ran out back where the Autobots were waiting.

"What's going on?" Optimus asked as she joined them.

"I woke him up," Elizabetta exclaimed as there was a suddenly explosion as an elderly transformer suddenly emerged from the museum and began walking towards them, "He's a Decepticon!"

"Just what gibberish are you speaking of, fleshling?" the ancient Cybertronian grumbled, "Why are you 'bots just standing around? Where am I? What planet am I on?"

The Autobots lowered their weapons as Optimus mused, "I don't think he's going to hurt us."

"You're on Earth," Ratchet replied.

"Earth? What a horrible name for a planet. It mine as well be dirt, Planet Dirt."

"What is your name?" Optimus asked.

"Jetfire, are you Autobot or Decepticon?"

"Autobot," Optimus answered.

"Good, as am I. I used to be a Decepticon, but they were too miserable to work for. Who wants to live a life full of hate?"

"Jetfire, we need your help," Elizabetta said, stepping forward.

"I have no time to help! I am on a mission!"

"We just need you to decipher some symbols," she said as she took off her shirt, not caring that it was in front of the entire Autobot army, "These symbols, on my arms on back…do you know what they mean?"

She tensed a bit as Jetfire knelt down to get a better look before he exclaimed, "These transcriptions! They were part of my mission, The Fallen's search. I remember now, for the Dagger's Tip, and the key!"

The Autobots exchanged glances, realizing they were onto something. "What was your mission?" Optimus asked.

"We _can't_ talk here!" Jetfire remarked as he opened a warp gate, "Everyone, don't move or you'll die!"

Nobody was quite sure what happened when they were suddenly thrown forward and ended up flying and landing harshly in a forsaken, hot desert. Once everyone had collected themselves, they regrouped as Elizabetta exclaimed angrily, "What was _that_ about?"

Jetfire narrowed his optics at her, "I warped you here. We're in Egypt."

"Why are we here?" she demanded.

"And what about your mission?" Ironhide asked.

"This planet was visited by our race once before by our earliest ancestors, millennia ago. They were on an exploratory mission to harvest Energon. Somewhere, buried in this desert, our ancestors built a great machine. It harvests Energon by destroying suns," Jetfire explained.

"D-Destroying suns?" Elizabetta remarked.

"You see, in the beginning there were seven Primes, our original leaders. And they set out into the universe seeking distant suns to harvest. The Primes set out with one rule, never destroy a planet with life, until one of them tried to defy this rule. His name was forevermore The Fallen," Jetfire continued, "He despised the human race, and he wanted to kill them all by turning on that machine. The only way to activate it is with a legendary key called the Matrix of Leadership. A great battle took place over possession of the Matrix. The Fallen was stronger than his brothers so they had no choice but to steal and hide it from him. In the ultimate sacrifice, they gave their lives to seal the Matrix away in a tomb made of their very own bodies, a tomb we cannot find. Somewhere in this very desert that deadly machine remains. The Fallen knows where it is and if he finds the tomb of the Primes, this world will be no more."

"This must be The Fallen's plan," Optimus mused, "He must've wanted you, Elizabetta, because the symbols are a map to the tomb of the Primes."

"He still lives?" Jetfire asked.

"Yes," the Autobot leader replied.

He shook his head, "Only a Prime can defeat The Fallen."

"Optimus Prime!" Elizabetta remarked.

Jetfire turned to her eagerly, "You've met a Prime? That means you've met a great descendant!"

"You're _looking_ at him," she replied, pointing to Optimus.

"By the Allspark," he stated, stunned, "You must take up my mission. It was mine, it's yours now. When the dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, Three Kings will reveal the doorway. Find the doorway! Go now, before the Decepticons find me or worse, you."

The Autobots quickly transformed and went off to begin looking for this doorway. As they drove into the Egyptian desert land, Ratchet tuned his comlink to Optimus' and said, "According to my research, ancient Sumerians used to call the Gulf of Aqaba the Dagger's Tip. Its part of the Red Sea, it divides Egypt and Jordan like the tip of a blade. 29.5 degrees north, 35.88 east."

"Alright," Optimus replied, "We'll head there in the morning, I need recharge."

"Yes sir."

And Elizabetta felt a bubble of excitement burst inside of her when she realized that they were camping out beneath the pyramids. After they all had parked, Elizabetta yawned and got up, heading for the bed in the back of the cab since Optimus was a sleeper cab after all. "Care to join me?" she asked playfully as she lay down on the bed.

His holoform suddenly appeared beside her on the bed and she smiled, "I guess so."

Optimus smiled as well as he took her in his arms, "You shouldn't have to ask me to join you."

"I thought I'd be nice."

"Well, it is my bed; you should be asking me for permission."

She laughed, "I see how it is."

They were silent, just staring lovingly at each other. Elizabetta couldn't help but smile when she heard love songs start playing softly through Optimus' radio. The glow of the stars and the moon through the windshield made everything even more romantic. Optimus pressed his lips to Elizabetta's as he held her closer to him. He wanted her now; he wanted her tonight, under these Egyptian stars.

"Elizabetta," he breathed, "Let me have you, please."

She felt a hard bulge in his pants pressing against her stomach as he kissed her. She didn't want to deny him; instead she wanted to show him that she wanted him too. Carefully, she slid her hands down his torso to his pant line before she hesitated at the button that held his jeans together. Slowly, she undid it before slowly unzipping the fly.

Optimus groaned when he felt Elizabetta slide a hand into his pants and gently begin to stroke him. He heard his engine purring loudly outside, knowing he would wake the others. He didn't care though. This was his moment with the woman he loved more than anything, if he woke the whole world, then so be it. He slowly and carefully removed her clothes as she helped him out of his before they collapsed back onto the bed, completely and beautifully naked.

He seized her in his arms as he positioned himself on top of her, kissing her gently. He gently squeezed her breasts, rolling and teasing her nipples before letting a hand slip down between her legs. He eased a couple fingers inside of her, feeling himself becoming ever more aroused by her scent, by her wetness, her tightness. "I love you," he breathed, kissing her lips.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

He removed his fingers before slowly easing himself inside. Elizabetta gasped, surprised by the pain, and she winced as she grabbed a hold of the bed sheets. He was much larger than what she had expected. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead before asking, "Are you alright?"

"You're very big, Optimus."

He smiled, "I'm sorry."

She laughed lightly, "I don't think you are."

He chuckled softly as well, "You're right."

When she was ready, he slowly began to ease himself in and out of her, surprised by how much he could feel as a human compared to being in his robot form. It was equally as sensual, but the warmth and wetness of it all, it was intoxicating almost. He groaned as he felt Elizabetta squirm beneath him, her own arousal building. He moved faster, quickening his pace, thrusting harder, deeper.

"Optimus…" she breathed.

He smirked and kissed her. Elizabetta could feel his vehicle form trembling and his engine was nearly roaring. His whole body felt what his holoform felt and did, and it turned her on so much knowing that she could bring Optimus, the leader of the Autobots, such pleasure. She leaned back, relaxing to the rhythm of his thrusts.

"More…" she moaned.

Optimus obliged gratefully, increasing his pace, deepening his thrusts. He heard her breathing get faster and knew she was close. He could feel her muscles tightening around him. He was close too.

"I love you," he breathed, and it was enough to send her over the edge.

The feeling of her climax sent Optimus into his peak as well. When they finished, he collapsed on the bed beside her, holding her tightly in his arms. "I love you too," she whispered back.

He smiled, tiredly. "Thank you."

"Anything for you, Optimus," she said as she fell asleep.

Optimus watched her for a moment before falling asleep as well.

* * *

"Starscream to Megatron."

"What is it, Starscream?"

"I think the Autobots are onto us."

"And why is that?"

"They're currently in Egypt, camping out beneath the pyramids."

"Keep an optic on them, they must know something that we don't."

"Yes sir."

"Megatron out," the Decepticon leader said as he ended the transmission. He smirked inwardly before thinking, _"This could prove rather…interesting."_

* * *

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Let me know what you thought, please review!


	14. When It's the Very End

Well, I have to say that this story is almost done. After this chapter, there's only going to be 1-2 more. But, I will be writing other stories, I promise. Anyways, thanks to everyone who read and reviewed the last chapter of this story, I hope you enjoy this one!

* * *

**Chapter 14: When It's the Very End**

The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon when Elizabetta awoke. Optimus, who was still asleep, held her close to him. She gave a soft smile as she observed him, wondering if he was dreaming, and if he was, if he was dreaming about her. Not wanting to wake him, she carefully got up and moved as soundlessly as possible to the front of the cab. She glanced out the window towards the rising sun when three stars suddenly caught her eye.

_When the dawn alights the Dagger's Tip, Three Kings will reveal the doorway._

"Optimus!" she yelled, causing him to jump awake, "Wake up! You've got to see this." And she opened his door before jumping out of his cab.

"What is it?" he remarked as he deactivated his holoform and transformed into his robot mode. The commotion of his transformation caused the other Autobots to wake up as well, grumbling as they transformed into their robot forms.

"You see those three stars?" Elizabetta asked as she pointed to the eastern horizon, "You see how the last one touches the horizon?"

"Yes…"

"That's Orion's Belt, but those stars are also called the Three Kings. They're called that after the three Egyptian kings who built the pyramids of Giza. These pyramids were built to mirror those stars. It's like an arrow staring us straight in the face," Elizabetta explained.

"Sir, they all point due east, towards Jordan, the mountains of Petra," Ratchet said.

"Autobots," Optimus said, "Transform and roll out."

They all transformed into their vehicle forms and Optimus waited as Elizabetta climbed inside of him. Once inside, he drove away from the pyramids, following the rest of the Autobots. As they drove along, he activated his holoform and wrapped an arm around Elizabetta before saying, "It's a good thing you woke up early."

She just smiled before asking, "Has Ratchet found out anything about my parents yet?"

He sighed dismally, "I'm sorry Elizabetta, he has been unable to locate them. He is still scanning the human networks to see if they were taken into government custody or not. If not, then their either hiding out on their own or—

"The Decepticons have them."

"But we don't know that yet. Once we have the Matrix in our possession, things will be alright. We'll find the sun harvester and destroy that as well."

"Optimus, you're making this sound so easy."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No…"

"It's alright to be afraid Elizabetta, but do not let fear cloud your judgement."

"But if they have my parents—

"Trust me, Elizabetta. Everything will be alright."

* * *

"Megatron to Starscream."

"Uh, yes sir?"

"What is the current status of the Autobots?"

"They are on the move, they're headed due east, towards the mountains of Petra."

"…Follow them, I have a feeling they were able to decipher those symbols on that wretched girl. If they find the Matrix before we do, well, you know the consequences."

"Yes master," Starscream replied as Megatron ended the transmission. Grumbling, he looked to the human he had with him before he shoved Ross in his cockpit and transformed into his vehicle form, following the Autobots at a safe distance.

* * *

After about an hour into the journey, the Autobots ran out of road. They were left to walk through the mountains in hopes of finding anything that resembled a tomb. Optimus placed Elizabetta on his shoulder as they walked. He led the way as they made their way through the mountains.

"Any idea what this tomb would look like?" Jazz asked as they continued through the mountains, "Or why _anybody_ in their right mind would make a tomb in this Primus forsaken desert?"

"Well, that's _obvious_," Ratchet remarked, "Nobody is going to go out of their way to travel through sweltering temperatures and an infinitesimal amount of _sand_ to find a tomb."

"And it's made out of their bodies," Elizabetta added, "So…it's going to be a bunch of twisted metal all sealed together."

"By now, it's probably buried beneath centuries of dirt," Ironhide said.

"Well I hope somebody brought a shovel," Bumblebee's radio quipped.

"Let's hope it's _not_ buried," Ratchet remarked, "I don't care to get anymore sand grinding between my circuits than what I have to."

"Autobots, enough," Optimus stated, "Saving the world usually isn't pleasant, you should all know that by now."

"Yeah well, I don't know how the heat is affecting you guys," Elizabetta said, "But it's barely 8:30 in the morning and I'm so hot I could just…strip."

Jazz chuckled, "Well, a few of us dirty old 'bots might like that."

Optimus tried to keep his sudden arousal down as they continued forward. "Knock it off, Jazz," he said as he tried not to think about Elizabetta's naked body and how he had her the previous night, how he had her only a few hours ago. Naked, writhing beneath him in pure ecstasy…he shuddered.

"You cold, Optimus?" Ratchet asked with a snicker.

"I'm fine, let's just keep going," the Autobot leader replied knowing that the sooner they got to wherever they were going, the better.

"Commander…Prime…needs some…sexual healing," Bumblebee's radio suddenly cackled, causing the rest of the Autobots, with the exception of Optimus, to laugh.

Elizabetta couldn't help but chuckle before she whispered in Optimus' audio receptor, "Sorry. I'll let you get payback later."

Oh, he would hold her to it.

They ended up walking for another hour and a half before they suddenly came upon a clearing in the mountains. As they entered the clearing, a giant palace-looking structure that was carved into the side of a mountain became visible from behind a cliff. The Autobots looked it over briefly before Elizabetta said, "Well, judging by the doorway, the people who built this were either really tall…or it was not built by human beings."

"There's only one way to find out if there's anything in there," Ironhide said as he stepped inside the ancient structure. The Autobots heard him growl loudly before he came back out and said, "There's nothing in here but an empty room."

"Is it possible archeologists beat us here?" Jazz asked as he peeked inside himself. When he saw the empty room, he threw a rock at a wall out of frustration before saying, "So we came all this way for nothing?"

Optimus set Elizabetta down as he addressed them on their next course of action, which was to regroup and try again. However, as he was giving his speech, Elizabetta wandered inside the ancient structure to get a look herself. She didn't doubt what Jazz and Ironhide had said about what was inside, but she had a feeling that they shouldn't give up so quickly on the structure either.

As she glanced about the empty room, she couldn't help but notice a crack in the wall where the rock Jazz had thrown hit. She put her hand over the crack, only to feel a breeze. "That's weird…" she mused. Carefully, she slipped her fingers into the crack before she yanked and a small piece of the wall gave. She looked to see what was behind the wall, only to see metal.

"Guys!" she shouted as she tried to claw more of the wall away, "There's something behind this wall!"

"Come on Elizabetta," Ironhide argued as he stuck his head back inside the room, "There's nothing…whoa…"

"Can you blast a hole in the wall?" Elizabetta asked.

"Yeah," and he aimed his cannon at the wall. Once Elizabetta was out of the way, he fired, creating a hollowed out hole in the wall.

"By the Allspark," Jazz remarked as he stepped into the room, "It's the tomb of the Primes!"

"Elizabetta, can you fit inside of there and see what you can find?" Optimus asked as he looked in from the doorway.

"Yeah, just give me a minute to find a flash light," she said.

* * *

"Starscream to Megatron."

"What is it?" the Decepticon leader asked.

"I suggest you rendezvous to my location, the Autobots have found the tomb of the Primes," Starscream replied before supplying his coordinates.

"I'm on my way."

Starscream listened as Megatron ended the transmission before he dangled Ross in front of his face. He sneered before saying, "Alright flesh bag, time for you to prove your worth. You are to go in and retrieve the Matrix of Leadership before that blasted female does, do you understand?"

"Consider it done," Ross replied.

* * *

Ratchet gave Elizabetta a flashlight, but just as she was about to enter the tomb, missiles suddenly impacted the cliff beside the ancient structure. The Autobots quickly vacated the structure only to see Starscream standing on a ledge not too far away, his guns aimed at them.

"Bumblebee, protect the tomb," Optimus ordered as he prepared to fight, "Autobots, get ready to fight."

Seeing that the Autobots were going to cover for her, Elizabetta slipped inside the tomb. She knew that she had to work quickly so that she and the rest of the Autobots could get out of there before anymore Decepticons showed up. However, she hadn't gone more than ten feet into the tomb when she suddenly heard a laugh behind her. Surprised, she whipped around only to see Ross standing there.

"You!" she shouted venomously, "I should've known you teamed back up with those backstabbing jerks!"

"Look," he said, "It wasn't because I _wanted_ to. Now, since I value my own hide over yours, get out of my way so I can give the Decepticons the Matrix and _live_."

"I could care less if you lived or died," Elizabetta replied as she turned and headed back into the tomb, now more determined to find it before Ross did.

He growled before shouting, "Get back here!" And he followed her deeper into the tomb.

Elizabetta could hear him quickly catching up to her and she didn't know how she planned on outrunning someone who had prior military training. However, that didn't stop her from trying. She let out a cry when he suddenly tackled her to the metal floor of the tomb before continuing on ahead of her. By the time Elizabetta managed to get back on her feet, it was too late. She watched as Ross knelt before the Matrix before he picked it up and beheld it momentarily.

But, without warning, it burst into dust.

"No!" Ross and Elizabetta shrieked at the same time as she ran over to him.

"Ross, what did you do?" she demanded as she picked up a handful of dust that had formerly been the Matrix of Leadership.

"All I did was pick it up," he exclaimed, "Oh man, I can't go back out there…Starscream will kill me for sure!"

"Well you're just as dead if you wait here for everyone to leave. There's no way you're making it out of this desert without any water," Elizabetta said as she tugged her shoe off.

"What are you doing?" Ross asked as he watched her.

Elizabetta had taken off her sock and began filling it with as much of the Matrix dust as she possibly could. "What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked.

"You're putting all your faith in dust?"

"It might come in handy, you never know," she said, "Besides, I didn't come all this way to walk away empty handed."

"Neither did I…" he mused before he suddenly grabbed Elizabetta by the wrist and began dragging her out of the tomb, "Even if I don't have the Matrix, I can at least give you to Megatron, that's better than nothing."

"With the Matrix gone, Megatron has no use for me!" Elizabetta exclaimed.

"You never know," Ross persisted as they stepped into daylight.

From the doorway of the structure, both Ross and Elizabetta witnessed the battle taking place. While they were in the tomb, Megatron and the rest of his Decepticon army had arrived to combat the Autobots over possession of the Matrix. Elizabetta watched in horror as Megatron punched Optimus to the ground before rushing over towards them. Both she and Ross tensed as the Decepticon leader stopped in front of them, towering over them.

"Where is the Matrix, human?" Megatron growled as he seized Ross in his claw-like hand.

He swallowed hard, "It…disintegrated…"

"Disintegrated?" Megatron bellowed, "What do you mean disintegrated?"

"I-It turned to dust in my hands when I picked it up, it wasn't anything I did on—

Megatron crushed him in his hand before tossing the remains aside. He glared down at Elizabetta as she took a cautious step back. He reached out to grab her when suddenly he was pulled away from the entrance of the ancient structure. Elizabetta felt elation surge through her when she realized it was Optimus that had yanked him away.

"You're fight is with _me_," Optimus growled as he punched Megatron across the face, causing the Decepticon leader to stumble backwards.

Megatron chuckled, "Is that so? Well, have it your way." His hand suddenly transformed into a sword as he attacked the Autobot leader.

Elizabetta watched the two leaders fight with a sinking feeling in her chest. While Optimus was holding his ground and beating Megatron back, Optimus would be on his own if any of the Decepticons decided to help their leader. And to her horror, that's exactly what happened. She watched as Starscream joined in to help his leader. Optimus couldn't hold them both back, no matter how determined he was.

She watched as he beat off Starscream, but he lost sight of Megatron. Elizabetta felt her whole world stop as Megatron suddenly came up from behind Optimus and ran his sword through his chest. "No!" she screamed as she ran towards the Autobot leader.

By the time she reached him, he was already on the ground, his optics flickering. "Optimus!" she yelled, "You can't die…you can't die…"

"Elizabetta…" Optimus breathed before his optics went completely offline.

She sank to her knees as tears began to fall from her cheeks, "Optimus, no!"

"Let's go boys," Megatron ordered as he took to the skies. His troops followed after him, figuring they had done enough damage for one day.

"Ratchet, is there anything you can do?" Ironhide asked as he came over to his fallen leader's body.

Ratchet shook his head dismally, "I'm…I'm afraid not. His spark has already extinguished."

But Elizabetta knew she could resurrect the dead. It had been her that had brought Jazz back to life; it had been her that restored life to all of the fallen Decepticons, including Megatron. Thinking quickly, she climbed up the Autobot leader until she was on his chest, just above the spot where Megatron had stabbed him. Summoning all the energy she could muster, she sent it into Optimus. "Come on," she breathed, "Live…"

Nothing happened.

But she didn't give up; she tried it again, and again, and again. Finally Ratchet came over to her and put a finger against her shoulder before saying, "Elizabetta…it seems when the Decepticons drained you of your energy, you…lost…your ability to restore life to the dead."

"Let's give her a few minutes," Jazz said as he walked away, disappearing behind the cliff.

Ironhide sighed heavily before he followed, Bumblebee and Ratchet followed soon after. When they were gone, Elizabetta unleashed the sobs that she had been holding back. "Optimus," she cried, "You _promised_ me that everything would be okay…remember how we made love last night, under the pyramids, under the stars? You _can't_ leave me…Optimus I am nothing without you."

Her only reply was the wind blowing gently through the mountaintops.

"Optimus…I _love_ you…"

"_Don't give up hope, even when it's the very end."_

Elizabetta looked up as she remember his words. They brought her some comfort, but they weren't enough to stop the tears. Numbly, she glanced down at the sock she still clutched tightly in her hand, the sock that was filled with the dust that had once formed the Matrix of Leadership.

If it was powerful enough to turn on a machine that could harvest the energy of the sun…

She slowly rose to her feet knowing that the Decepticons still had to be stopped. Even if they didn't have the key, Optimus Prime was dead. Earth was in peril. She held the ultimate weapon in her hand…if it could somehow be fixed…

No, this _couldn't_ be the end.

* * *

Please review! XD


	15. All Your Faith in Dust

Well, I'm on Fall Break, but unfortunately tomorrow is my last day of the break. It's back to the horrible grind on Wednesday, but I did get time to update this. Sorry it took so long for the update. I'm trying to update when I can, but it's not easy. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this. Next chapter will be the last.

* * *

**Chapter 15: All Your Faith in Dust**

Optimus was simply too heavy to be carried out of that hot, forsaken desert. Ratchet managed to contact William Lennox and let him know what happened. However, he kept the conversation as confidential as possible. The Autobots didn't know if the Decepticons could pick up on their communications, but they didn't want to take a risk. When Lennox and his men got there to retrieve Optimus' body, they would go from there.

Elizabetta, on the other hand, tried desperately to hide the tears that formed in her eyes every time Optimus' name was mentioned. It seemed like an eternity went by before Lennox and his men arrived with a large convoy of humvees and a large metal slab to pull Optimus out of the desert. Even though he was dead, nobody could bear to leave him to rust here. As the others worked on securing the fallen Autobot leader, Bumblebee approached Elizabetta.

"Hey Bee," she breathed, trying to force a smile. She ended up having to wipe away tears instead.

"You know…when all hope seems lost…all you gotta do is believe," his radio said, "That man…was like a father to me…and to you…baby, he would've given you the world."

"Bee…" she whimpered as another wave of tears came to her eyes.

"I wanna cry too…but the Big Man…he would be pissed."

She laughed, not wanting to, but it came out anyway. She looked to the yellow Autobot, feeling a little better. "Thanks Bee," she said, grateful for the unexpected comfort he had provided. It had gotten her through the last five minutes. Somehow, though, she had to find a way to make it through the next million…

"Don't stop believing," his radio chirped.

Elizabetta looked up at him. It was something Optimus would've said to make her keep going, even if she didn't want to, and it usually worked, even if he spewed the lamest clichés possible. And even though he was gone now, he wouldn't want her to lay down and die too. He'd want her to pick up the pieces and keep fighting.

This world was hers to save…

She glanced down at the sock she was still clutching tightly, as if she were hanging onto it for dear life.

She bit back another wave of tears before saying, "Come on Bee, we've got a sun to save."

"Without the Matrix though," said Ironhide as he came up behind them, "The Earth and its sun are safe. There is nothing the Decepticons can do to turn on that machine."

"I would feel better knowing that it was destroyed anyway," Will Lennox said, joining them as well, "We lost Optimus; we need to make the Decepticons pay somehow."

Ratchet shook his head, "Revenge is not the best option at the moment, especially since we're at a disadvantage right now. If we were to engage the Decepticons blinded by rage, it would be our own graves."

"But we can't just let them get away either," Ironhide protested, "They're more than likely going off to prepare for The Fallen's return…and even though only a Prime can destroy The Fallen, maybe we can slow them down."

"They might try to come after Elizabetta," Jazz said, "If they can't use the sun harvester anymore…"

"I wouldn't be of any use to them," she said, "They drained me of my ability to bring back the dead."

"But they don't know that," Jazz replied.

"They'd be quick to realize," Ratchet argued, "When Optimus doesn't come back…they'll know. And they'll know they're free to do whatever they want to this planet."

"No!" Elizabetta shouted, "I won't let them just lay waste to _my_ planet and I'll be damned if the rest of you give up the fight now. We have to figure out what the Decepticons are up to and stop them; I'll take them all on if I have to!"

She went to run off, but Lennox held her back before she could get away. "You can't just run away into battle like that," he said, "We'll figure something out."

"We can't just wait," she protested.

"But we can't be stupid either," Lennox replied, "We need to let the Decepticons make the next move and we'll go from there."

And Elizabetta glumly gave in.

* * *

Megatron wasn't sure what to say as he knelt before his master, The Fallen, in their base. Instead, The Fallen broke the silence as he mused, "The last Prime is dead…"

"Yes sir," Megatron confirmed, "I killed him."

"And the Matrix?"

The Decepticon leader hesitated before admitting, "It turned to dust when it was touched by an organic male."

The Fallen was silent for a moment before asking, "Were the dust particles saved or did they blow away?"

"I believe that human that had the Allspark rebirth inside of her kept the particles."

"It seems the Prime's kept their promise then. Retrieve the particles; eliminate all those who stand in your way. The Matrix can be restored, and I know how to restore it. We'll have this planet's sun yet."

"What promise?" Megatron asked.

"The Matrix of Leadership cannot be given; it has to be earned," The Fallen explained, "That's why it disintegrated. Once it has been earned, it will reform. Now go."

Megatron didn't ask any further questions as he went out of the room.

* * *

Elizabetta was not happy to learn that she was being shipped back to the U.S., back to her family, away from the Autobots, away to a location she didn't even know about, away from the body of Optimus Prime. Apparently during all the confusion of trying to get Optimus' body out of the desert and back to NEST, Ratchet managed to locate Elizabetta's family. After the broadcast, NEST had moved her family to a secret location somewhere within the U.S., a location they would not reveal to Elizabetta or any of the other Autobots.

She sighed heavily from inside the helicopter that they were currently in. She was seated beside Lennox as she watched the Egyptian desert pass by beneath them. The Autobots were being transported back in cargo planes and would arrive back to NEST before she would.

"What's going to happen from here?" she asked glumly.

"You'll meet your parents back at NEST. From there, you'll all be transported back to a new secret location."

"I know that…but what about the rest of the Autobots?"

"They'll probably stick around NEST from now on."

"And their base?"

"We'll convert it into a military base."

"What about Optimus?"

"I'm not sure how the Autobots dispose of their dead."

Elizabetta remembered seeing Jazz's deceased form lying on that metal altar in the middle of that holy shrine within the Autobots old base. She remembered beholding the statues inside the room, the symbols that were painted on the walls, the carvings, everything. She didn't want to imagine Optimus lying there in Jazz's place. Instead, she didn't say anything as she hid her face from Lennox and tried to dry her tears.

* * *

It helped when they landed and she was rushed into the waiting arms of her parents. "Mom, dad," she breathed in a broken whisper at the sight of their happiness, at the sight of their tears, "Mom, dad."

"Oh Lizbee…" her mother replied, hugging her, "Those big, awful, mean robots didn't hurt you did they?"

"No, not the Autobots," she answered, attempting to wipe away her tears again, "They saved my life on more than one occasion."

"Thank God you're safe," her father said as he came up and hugged her as well, wiping his own tears away, "I thought we lost you…"

Elizabetta hugged him back before saying, "No dad, you'll never lose me."

"You've got so much explaining to do," he said, "But when you are ready."

There reunion was cut short though as they were quickly ushered into a black suburban by military personnel. There was a suburban in front of them and one behind them, creating a motorcade as they were driven out of the area and headed towards the undisclosed location. Elizabetta couldn't help but look out the back window, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the Autobots, perhaps even Optimus. All she saw was the black suburban behind her, which made her heart sink.

She didn't want to leave. She didn't want to go into hiding. The Allspark rebirthed inside of her for a reason, it wasn't her destiny to hide. Optimus told her she had a greater purpose, Optimus believed in her. And even though she was elated that her family was alright, she knew she couldn't go with them. Her place was with the Autobots, even if Optimus wasn't there anymore, she still had a purpose that needed to be carried out. She allowed the Decepticons to come back online, but she would not allow their master to return. She wouldn't let him destroy her home.

"I don't want to go," she breathed, looking to the sock she was still clutching in her hand.

"What was that, dear?" her mother asked as she took her hand. "That military base is 15 minutes behind us. You'll never have to go back there again."

"I don't want to leave," she said flatly.

"What?" her father asked surprised, "Elizabetta, we're going home."

"No, I can't, my place is with them, with the Autobots…I need to help them."

"Lizbee, what are you talking about? There's nothing you can do to help them. Let's go home; we can talk about this at home okay?"

"But dad," Elizabetta complained, "We're _not_ going home. We're going to some hidden bunker somewhere while our planet is destroyed by the Decepticons!"

No sooner had she gotten that out of her mouth that the ground suddenly exploded beside the suburban, causing the driver to swerve and go off the road before getting stuck in a ditch. The other two suburbans were taken out just as Elizabetta quickly scrambled to get out of the vehicle. She finally managed to pry one of the side doors open before climbing out, her parents following her. She didn't see anyone around so she looked up only to see Megatron and Starscream in their jet forms circling around above them.

Elizabetta clutched the sock tighter in her hand before yelling, "Mom, dad, get out of here now!"

But her parents didn't move. "Who are they, Lizbee?" her mother asked warily.

"They are the reason Sadie died, now _please_, go!"

"We're not going to leave you here!" her father shouted and grabbed her arm.

She turned to face her father. She looked him square in the eye as she said, "Dad, you got to let me do this. It's me they're after; I know they won't kill me. I've already lost two of my best friends, I don't want to lose you either. You need to go and find a place to hide, now, please."

Her father looked from her to her mother. Finally, he let her go and took her mother's hand. "You better come back!" he yelled before he ran off with her mother to find a place to hide.

Elizabetta didn't say anything as she turned back to face Starscream and Megatron. She watched as they transformed and landed before her. She clutched the sock tighter in her hand, not caring how ridiculous it looked. She held her ground as Megatron took a few steps towards her before kneeling and extending his scissor like hand towards her. "Hand over the Matrix," he barked, "And I'll spare your miserable life."

"Just why would you be interested in this pixie dust?" she asked, holding up the sock, "You won't be able to turn on your sun harvester with it."

The Decepticon leader growled, "Why are you throwing away your life so recklessly in order to protect it? I know you lost your powers to revive the dead. You're putting all your faith in dust now?"

"I won't let you destroy this planet."

"There's enough energy in your sun to restore my planet. I am done arguing, hand over the Matrix or perish," he said as he aimed his gun at her.

"Elizabetta, get out of there, now!" yelled a familiar voice.

Elizabetta looked over to see Bumblebee and the rest of the Autobots rushing towards her. Megatron snarled when he saw them coming as well and immediately snapped his attention back to the human before him. "Give me the Matrix!" he yelled.

"No!"

He fired his gun. Before Elizabetta could grasp what happened, she went tumbling backwards as a burning pain seared through her flesh so deep she thought she was on fire from the inside out. She felt like she hit the ground at a million miles an hour before she lost consciousness. She no longer was clutching the sock filled with the particles of the Matrix of Leadership. Instead, the sock hung loosely and half open from her hand, the particles were spilling out and being caught by the wind.

_Elizabetta felt herself leave her body as she flew past all the memories and good times she shared with Optimus, with the Autobots, with her family and friends. She felt the pain disappear as the darkness was filled by a sudden blinding, pure white light. She felt as light as air as she flew before she landed, gently, on clouds that appeared like mist. She looked out into the heavenly landscape, nothing was familiar, but she didn't feel afraid, she felt as if she were home._

"_Am I…Am I dead?" she asked into the openness._

"_Elizabetta," a voice answered and she looked up only to witness six ancient transformers appear from out of nowhere, as if they were part of the mist, "We've been watching you for some time. We've witnessed your capacity for courage. You protected your family, you protected humanity, and you did not lose faith when your world collapsed around you. There was a reason that the Allspark chose to rebirth inside of you, it was only part of your destiny."_

"_Only part of it?" she asked confused._

"_Return to Earth and place the Matrix inside of Optimus' chest."_

_Elizabetta watched as the heaven around her disappeared before she went cascading into darkness._

Her body was still in searing pain when she woke up. Her clothes were torn and burned in some places. She was covered head to toe in dirt, but as she regained consciousness, she saw a small group of soldiers around her that had been trying to revive her. She clutched her hand to grab the sock only to grasp metal. She looked down and saw the Matrix of Leadership reformed in her hand. Carefully she stood and saw the Autobots were battling Megatron and Starscream. With a sinking feeling, Elizabetta realized that her friends would not be able to keep the two Decepticons back for long.

"Bumblebee!" she shouted, "Get me back to Optimus!"

He looked to her before quickly transforming into his vehicle form and coming to her. When he got to her, he opened the door and she got in. When she was settled, he drove off back towards NEST. She looked in the rearview mirror only to catch Megatron transform into his jet form and take off after them. "Step on it!" she yelled and she was pressed back against the seat as Bumblebee accelerated forward.

Bumblebee managed to evade the shots that the Decepticon leader fired at them while they raced back to NEST. When they finally got back, Elizabetta quickly got out as the Autobot scout quickly transformed to try and distract Megatron. She glanced over her shoulder as Megatron transformed and swatted Bumblebee aside as if he were nothing. She then caught brief eye contact with the Decepticon leader before she snapped her attention from him and continued running forward.

"Hand over the Matrix!" she heard Megatron bellow as his gun charged up once again. Elizabetta jumped as she reached Optimus, landing part way up his metal body. She winced as she accidentally cut her arms and legs on sharp pieces of metal that were protruding from his body as she climbed on top of him and made her way to his chest. She knelt in front of his empty and dark spark chamber when she reached it, looking at the broken mess that he was.

"Human!" Megatron yelled again as she lifted the Matrix high above her head with both hands.

But Elizabetta ignored him as she plunged the Matrix deep inside of Optimus' chest.

* * *

Until the next chapter, please review! XD


	16. When Destiny Calls

Well, here is the last chapter of this story. Many, many, many thanks to everyone who has read this story as well as reviewed. It has helped me along. It's kind of sad though, I've been working on this story the last three years and some odd months. It's a little hard to see it end. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the final chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 16: When Destiny Calls**

Almost immediately, the Autobot leader's body jolted as if it had been shocked by a defibrillator, which caused Elizabetta to lose her balance and nearly topple off Optimus' crippled form. She managed to catch herself before she hit the pavement, and Optimus seemed to notice her as his optics came online. He took her in his hand immediately in an effort to protect her.

"Elizabetta," he breathed.

A gun hissed to his left and he immediately looked over to see Megatron walking towards them, gun ready to fire. "I don't know what just happened," Megatron said, "But I'll kill you both!" And he fired.

Using what little strength he had, Optimus managed to dodge the shot. Elizabetta knew that he wouldn't be able to keep doing that though; he was still injured from his last battle with Megatron, a battle that had resulted in his death. She swallowed hard as she watched Megatron aim at them again. She knew that Optimus didn't have the energy to dodge his shot this time. It would be the death of both of them.

The Decepticon leader went to fire when suddenly there was a clash of metal on metal and a flash of yellow as Megatron stumbled forward, growling in pain. Bumblebee suddenly emerged from behind the Decepticon leader, creating enough of a distraction for Ratchet to get to Optimus.

"Sir," the Autobot medic stated, "We need to get you inside, there is no way you'll be able to fight in your condition."

"Someone…has to…stop Megatron," Optimus replied, wincing as he struggled to get on his feet.

"I'll handle him," Jetfire remarked as he suddenly flew in and transformed, landing before the Autobot leader, "It's the least I can do."

Without warning, the pavement beside Jetfire bubbled up before Scorponok erupted from underground. He landed on the elder Autobot, slicing and tearing into his vital systems before Jetfire finally managed to pull him off.

"Jetfire!" Elizabetta shouted, shocked by the amount of damage Scorponok had managed to inflict upon Jetfire.

He tried to get back to his feet, but was unable to. Knowing that he would not survive his injuries, Jetfire looked to Optimus and said, "Take my parts."

"Jetfire…" Optimus remarked softly, not wanting to see the elderly Autobot perish, especially after all the help he had given then in finding the Matrix.

"I'm not going to make it. Take my parts and use them to destroy The Fallen," Jetfire remarked before ripping his own spark out of his chest and collapsing to the ground.

Ratchet set up a system transfer, and as the parts that could still be salvaged from Jetfire were fitted to the Autobot leader, Optimus could feel his systems repairing and returning to full strength. When the transfer completed, he finally had the energy to stand, and he left Elizabetta on the ground as he said, "Megatron, your fight is with me."

Megatron pushed Bumblebee away from him and looked to the upgraded Optimus. "So be it," the Decepticon leader hissed, and he went to attack him when The Fallen suddenly appeared. Megatron halted his attack, surprised. "My master," he remarked.

"I see the human girl has managed to earn the Matrix of Leadership, allowing it to be restored," he mused, ignoring Megatron. He then turned his gaze to Optimus before saying, "Hand the Matrix over to me or else I will rip it out of your chest."

"I'd like to see you try," Optimus remarked as he prepared to attack The Fallen.

"Not so fast," The Fallen stated.

Elizabetta gasped when her feet suddenly left the ground and she began floating towards The Fallen. She watched as Optimus immediately stiffened, unaware that The Fallen had anti-gravitational abilities. There was nothing she could do as The Fallen took her in his hand and said, "Hand over the Matrix or else."

"Let her go!" Optimus ordered.

He laughed, "Come now Optimus, is one single human life worth more than the restoration of our planet?"

"There are other means," the Autobot leader tried to argue.

"But this way is the simplest," The Fallen said before grabbing Optimus by the shoulder, "Megatron, rendezvous with me at the Great Pyramids." And they disappeared.

The Autobots tensed when they realized that The Fallen had teleported away with their leader. Megatron just laughed at their confusion before transforming into his jet form and flying away, shouting, "Decepticons, fall back and regroup at the Great Pyramids of Egypt!"

"Looks like we're going back to Egypt," Ironhide remarked as he powered down his cannons, watching as the Decepticons retreated, "And we better make this quick. There's no telling what The Fallen is capable of."

* * *

Elizabetta could have died when she realized that they were back in Egypt. The last time she had been to the pyramids she had made love with Optimus beneath them and the stars. She didn't want this to turn into a battleground…she didn't want to see Optimus die here either. She had just gotten him back and here he was not only fighting for his life again, but for hers as well.

"Well Optimus," The Fallen spoke, "What will it be, Cybertron or the human?"

Without warning, Optimus rushed at him, punching him in the arm that held Elizabetta. Surprised, he lost his grip on her and she watched in horror as the ground suddenly got closer. At the last second, a metal hand wrapped around her and nervously she looked out, only to see that Optimus had her. She relaxed immediately, knowing that she was safe in his grasp. But, she was surprised when he set her on the ground.

He said gently, "Elizabetta, you need to run, get as far from here as you possibly can. Find a place to hide. I'll come find you afterwards."

She looked him over before she did as he said and ran. She stopped when she reached a cliff and hid behind it, knowing that she was out of The Fallen's range here. Elizabetta peeked out from behind the rock face, watching as The Fallen and Optimus fought over possession of the Matrix. She knew that this was a fight to the death and she prayed that it would be Optimus who did walk away.

He had said that he would come get her afterwards, that meant he absolutely had to survive in order to honor what he said. However, when the battle became too intense, Elizabetta couldn't watch for fear that she would have to watch Optimus die a second time. She pressed herself against the cliff, not caring how sharp the rocks were. Desperately, she tried to think about something else to calm her down. She looked herself over and saw how filthy she was. She was covered from head to foot in dirt and her clothes were torn and burnt from when Megatron shot her. When she got back to NEST, she would take a three hour shower, and she would take it with Optimus.

She snapped out of her thoughts when she heard someone walking towards her. It was then she realized that the clashes of metal against metal had stopped. The battle was over just as quickly as it had started. That meant one of them was dead. Elizabetta started shaking; not knowing who it was that was currently walking towards her. She swallowed hard, before calling out, "Optimus?"

"I'm here, Elizabetta," he replied as he appeared beside the cliff.

Overjoyed, Elizabetta ran out and he picked her up in his hand and brought her to his face, not caring how dirty she was, and let her hug him tightly. "My love," he breathed, kissing her stomach, "I owe you my life."

"No Optimus," she said, "You've saved my life so many times that you don't owe me anything."

"Are you alright?" he asked her, "It looks like you've been through a lot."

"I'm fine," she answered, "I just am so happy that you're back."

"When we get back to NEST," he said, "We'll get you cleaned up."

She nodded.

* * *

It was sometime later before NEST and the rest of the Autobots arrived back in Egypt only to see that Optimus had killed The Fallen and that the Decepticons were left to lick their wounds until the next battle. When they finally got back to the military base, Elizabetta had barely stepped off the plane when her parents had crushed her in a hug. "Thank God you're safe!" her mother exclaimed, "I can't believe this is where you want to be, fighting battles with those giant robots."

"It's my destiny," she said with a smile as she noticed Optimus walk her way, "I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?" And she went to Optimus, who lifted her in his hand and brought her inside of the base before taking her to his room.

When the door closed, he activated his holoform and took her in his arms, holding her tightly. "Come on," he said as he guided her towards the cleansing room, "Let's get you cleaned up."

When they were inside, he helped her out of her clothes, before deactivating his own and starting the shower. When the water was warm, he stepped inside and Elizabetta followed him, drawing the curtain once she was in. The water rinsed away most of the dirt that had collected on her body almost immediately, and it felt so good to get it off. However, she watched as Optimus took a bar of soap in his hand and gently began to scrub her, but it felt more like a massage than anything else. When he finished, she rinsed off before washing her hair. As she rinsed the conditioner out of it, she felt him wrap his arms around her waist before pulling her against him and breathing into her ear, "You're beautiful, Elizabetta."

She shuddered as he kissed her neck, his hands roaming her body. "Optimus…" she breathed as he gently squeezed her breast, his erection pressing against her hip.

He adjusted his position and Elizabetta winced a bit as he entered her. When it was alright, she looked to him. He leaned forward and kissed her before he pressed her back against the wall. He held onto her hips tightly as he slowly began to make love to her.

"I promise…to never…leave you again," he breathed.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he kissed her again, increasing his pace as he did so. Elizabetta had never felt so complete, so at peace in her entire life. She knew the painful hole that was there after Optimus had passed had been filled. Despite what she had told herself, despite what others had said to make her feel better, she knew that she couldn't live without him, and she hoped that he felt the same about her. Even after death had separated them temporarily, he had still managed to come back for her, he had defeated The Fallen, and even though Megatron and his Decepticons were still a threat, there wasn't anything that she and Optimus couldn't get through together.

They came together, cascading into blissful ecstasy. After a few long moments subsided, Optimus pulled himself out of her and just held her against him. "I love you," she breathed, gazing into his beautiful blue eyes as she clung to him, never wanting to let him go.

"I love you most," he said, kissing the top of her head, "Come, let's go get some sleep."

She proceeded to dry herself off before following him over to the recharge berth. He deactivated his holoform and his robot form picked her up. He held her against his chest as he lay down, waiting for her to fall asleep.

"It's good to have you back," she said.

He smiled, "It's good to be back, Elizabetta."

Even though the battle had been won, there was still a war to be fought. But, no matter what happened, she would never leave Optimus' side. Even if they ended up losing the war, she would never stop loving him. She planned on spending the rest of her life with the Autobot leader. It was what she had chosen.

It was her destiny.

* * *

The end! I hope you guys enjoyed it. Before I forget, there won't be a sequel to this story. I do plan on writing other stories though when I finish up some of the other ones I have going. Please review!


End file.
